Tony and Michelle
by kyraward275
Summary: My version of TM's story from beginning. Pre season 2 through the present. If you don't want to read through the events of day 2, Chapter 23 starts with postseason 2.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

A glass was thrust into her hand, forcing her attention back to the present. "Huh?" she asked, looking at the drink.

"Michelle, what are you thinking about? You've been far away all night."

Michelle watched as her best friend Lily dropped into the chair beside her. Not wanting to admit why she was so distracted, Michelle took a huge swallow of the drink, and then coughed until she couldn't breathe anymore.

Lily laughed so hard tears flew down her cheeks. "Ease up, 'Chelle. Not so fast!"

Michelle finally stopped coughing and shook her head at her friend. She didn't like hard liquors with the exception of vodka, and that had to be smothered in some kind of juice. This particular concoction was about 95 vodka and 5 juice.

"So come'on," Lily said, leaning in next to her but keeping her eyes of a man at the bar who she thought was cute. "What's been eating you all night?"

"Nothing," she lied. "I'm just tired."

Lily gave her a look that said she knew she was lying, but didn't argue. "I think I'm going to go say hi to that cutie. You be okay for a little while?"

"Of course. Good luck," Michelle grinned and then took a small sip of her drink. She and Lily always looked out for one another, ever since they became best friends their freshman year of high school. They had seen each other through all the wonderful and horrifying years of high school, and then went off to college together. They had taken care of each other through so many things, including drinking. One of them always played designed driver, with Michelle being it more often than not lately. She wouldn't have minded drinking more sometimes and party like she did in college, but she didn't have that luxury anymore due to her demanding job. She was constantly on call and couldn't take the chance that she could be in an impaired shape if she ever was called in. However, that didn't stop her from going out and nursing a drink or two sometimes when that job drove her stress level up.

_I wonder what Tony would think of me if I was ever called in after I'd been drinking, _she thought to herself as she continued to nurse her drink. Or what he would think of her if he ever saw her in this environment. Would he be shocked that quiet, professional Michelle from the office could be the life of the bar when she was drinking? Would he like that about her, or hate it? He didn't know her any other way than who she was in the office… serious, hard-working, dedicated to getting the job done.

_I wonder what he's like outside of work?_ she wondered for the hundredth time. She knew he was a huge sports fan, but didn't know much more than that. She had peaked into his personal file one day and knew some information… like where he lived, when his birthday was, that his father was dead and his mother lived in Chicago with his younger sister, that he used to be in the Marines… but nothing more personal than that. She knew all about his ill-fated relationship with Nina Myers last year, thanks to office gossip.

He was as much a mystery today as he was a year ago when she'd met him. Sure, they had shared many meals together, at C.T.U., thanks to long hours, which had provided her some insight to his character, but he was still very closed in.

Michelle watched as Lily and the mystery man walked over to the jukebox. Lily was on the rebound from a good relationship gone bad, and she wanted to keep an extra close eye on her tonight. She didn't want Lily doing something stupid in her emotional, drunken state that she would later regret.

"Hey Michelle, how you doing girl? They finally let you outta that office?"

She looked up to see two men walking towards her. "Hey Charlie, hey Mike. How you been?"

She and Lily had been coming to this karaoke bar for the past year and a half, ever since they had moved to Los Angelos from Southern California where they had attended college. They were considered regulars here and were friends with all the other regulars. They both felt comfortable and at home, even though Michelle's time had been limited ever since she started working at C.T.U. one year ago. No one knew she worked for the federal government; they all thought she was a computer tech downtown. She easily fit into this role since she did the work of a computer tech and more for C.T.U. Lily knew what her real job was, but she was sworn to secrecy at the bar. She didn't want any potential problems.

She chatted with the two guys for a while, watching as Lily started dancing with her new friend. Everything seemed alright over there and so Michelle allowed Charlie to get her another drink, with specific instructions that it be much more fruity than alcohol. She trusted he would follow her wishes; Charlie was in his early fifties and made himself out to be the "father figure" to her and Lily.

"You going get up and sing for us tonight, Michelle?" Mike asked. "You know how much we love to hear you."

"And watch her!" a young man shouted as he walked past their table.

Charlie came back in time to hear his statement. "You'd better respect this little lady here, Brian. She's not just another pretty face ya know."

"It's okay, Charlie," Michelle grinned. "He didn't mean any harm."

Charlie sat down with the drinks and picked up where Mike left off. "So are you gonna perform for us tonight?"

Michelle took her drink and smiled. She actually was quite good at singing and loved to get up and "perform" for the bar, karaoke style, but not tonight. She had too much on her mind. She shook her head at their questioning expressions and begged exhaustion as her excuse.

She knew that no one would ever guess that she'd love doing karaoke and singing in front of people. It was something that started on a dare in college, and to her surprise she found herself enjoying it. It was her way of being someone totally different than who she really was.

For the next two hours Michelle laughed and chatted with her friends, still nursing just the one drink. She was scheduled to be off tomorrow and should be drinking it up, but she just didn't feel like it. Maybe it was a sixth sense or something, but she had the odd feeling she'd be needed before then. Besides, she was in a real low mood and didn't even feel like trying to get out of it.

At two o'clock in the morning Maury, the bartender, was ready to close up. Michelle dragged Lily away from her new man, despite his insistence that he would take her home. Lily wanted to go with him at first, but Michelle was able to convince her not to. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to help a very drunken friend into her apartment, safe and sound. She left her there, passed out on the sofa, in order to go home.

She was about twenty minutes away from home when the call came in.

"Dessler," she said habitually. She didn't even try to stop answering the phone that way when she wasn't at work; it was just too difficult to program her mind to make the changes. Her family and friends had teased her about it for the longest time, but had finally realized that she wasn't going to change and accepted it.

"Michelle, it's Mason."

Great… her boss. It could only mean one thing. "Hi Mr. Mason. What's up?"

"We have an active protocol and I need you in here ASAP. I know I promised you off tomorrow, but I really need your help with this one."

"No problem." She inwardly sighed. She knew she should had just gone home and to bed when she had gotten off work at six o'clock. No, instead she let Lily talk her into going out and now she'd have to work on an active protocol in a compromised state. She cursed herself silently. "I'll just run home and change real quick because I'm not exactly…."

Mason interrupted her, "Michelle, I need you now. I don't care what you're wearing; just get in here. There is no time to waste."

She did a u-turn and began the familiar drive to her home away from home. "Be there in ten minutes."

"Great. We're going to be starting the briefing in about ten, so go right to the conference room as soon as you get in."

"Got it."

Michelle threw her cell phone in the passenger seat and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. She glanced at herself in the rear view mirror when she stopped at a traffic light. She always wore her hair up at work, but tonight it was down, curly and wild. It would get in her way for sure in a matter of minutes. She was wearing skin-tight blue jeans, black boots, and a low-cut black shirt. She had a reputation at work for being conservative and professional; she guessed tonight would break that.

"Oh to hell with them," she said aloud to the empty car. "They called me on my time off. What do they expect?"

What would Tony think? Would he be attracted to her like this? She hoped it would knock him off his feet since he never saw her in anything but professional outfits. She would never wear something like this on the job, but George wasn't giving her a chance to fix it.

_I'll pack a change of clothes for next time, _she promised herself, knowing there would be a next time. There were locker rooms for both male and female employees; she might as well take advantage of it.

She pulled into the secure parking lot of C.T.U. and caught the double-glance the guard gave her, but didn't acknowledge it. She didn't flirt with any of the guys at work, except for Tony and that was very subtle to say the least. Probably too subtle considering it wasn't working. She knew Tony would be hesitant in dating a co-worker, especially since he was her supervisor, due to the fiasco with Nina last year, but she hoped that Tony knew she was nothing like Nina and wasn't going to play him. She seriously liked him and hadn't even dated anyone, casually or otherwise, since the day she stepped foot in C.T.U. and was introduced to him.

She knew he was a little attracted to her. There was this tension between them and every conversation not directly work related always had a lot of "umms" in it, like they couldn't maintain a complete sentence to one another. He spent a lot of time sitting on the side of her desk talking to her, and she had caught him watching her occasionally from his desk. He just needed to make one tiny move and she would be at his beck and call. Michelle knew that if Tony ever got serious with her, she'd be a goner.

_Like I'm not already,_ she admitted to herself as she passed through security and walked towards the conference room.

"Michelle," a surprised voice stopped her. "Wow, you look great!"

She smiled, but kept walking, throwing a "thank you" over her shoulder at the tech. At least some male employees at C.T.U. weren't immune to her. If only it would hit the one man she wanted it to.

The briefing looked like it was about to start. She quickly opened the door and stepped inside. All talking stopped and heads turned toward her. She nervously adjusted her top and smiled, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Especially the dark brown ones at the head of the table.

"Geez, Michelle, did we interrupt your night?" Gary, one of the field agents, teased.

"Actually I was on my way home, so the timing was fine," she teased back, sitting down in an empty seat. "I'm sorry, but you didn't give me time to change."

"It doesn't matter. Come'on people, we have a lot of work to do. Let's get started," Mason said in a loud voice.

Michelle sneaked a glance at the chair across from her and met Tony's eyes. He wasn't smiling, but then again he rarely did anyway. However, there was a warm, sensual look in them. She bit her lip and turned back to her boss. No time to ponder what was in his eyes… she had work to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Tony couldn't concentrate on his computer screen. He kept glancing over at Michelle's desk, watching her work. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. He knew he was attracted to her, but had been fighting it. Tony had promised himself after the whole Nina incident that he must keep his personal and professional life separate. That idea worked fine until the day the cute little brunette walked into this office. She quickly turned from cute to pretty to beautiful. She was just so amazing, but he hadn't made a move yet. He was always nervous around her, afraid to take the next step but knowing he couldn't go back to ignoring her either. She had gotten under his skin and he wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Tony, you got that address for me yet?" George Mason interrupted his thoughts.

Tony sighed and looked back at his screen. "Uh, yeah, here you go."

George took the paper from him, nodded his thanks and walked away. Tony automatically looked back over to Michelle, only this time he caught her looking back. He knew she was interested in him too, but she had never made a move either. If she only knew how drop dead gorgeous she was at this moment. He thought she was beautiful in her professional clothes, but never imagined how amazing she'd look in "normal" wear. With her hair down like that she was absolutely stunning. He felt a pang of jealously as he wondered who she had been out with dressed like that. Had she been on a date?

The object of his thoughts came walking over to him. "Hey."

He scratched the side of his face and responded with another "hey."

She looked away, bit her lip, and then looked back at him. "Do you have the sequencing code to the satetille imaging? Mason wants me to look up several grids, but they must have changed recently."

"Ah, yeah, I have the new codes right here," he handed over a disc.

She took it and smiled. "Thanks, Tony."

"Sure." He turned back to his computer screen, overwhelmed by the scent of her perfume. She also smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. He knew she didn't smoke, but the combination of the two meant she had been at a bar tonight. He had down some background checking up on her and knew that she frequented a local karaoke bar with her friends sometimes. Maybe that's where she had been.

Tony bit back a smile as he tried to imagine Michelle signing karaoke in a crowded barroom. It seemed so out of character for her, and he'd pay anything to see that show sometime.

"Tony," a voice called and Tony snapped back to reality. He did enough daydreaming, and night dreaming, about this woman, and as nice as it was, he had a job to do right now and didn't need the distraction. He hadn't gotten to be second-in-command at C.T.U. by letting his personal life control him; he was a professional. He turned to the tech needing his help and walked away.

Several hours later Mason sent everyone home with the promise not to return for twenty-four hours. They had made significant progress on the protocol, even locating the suspect and placing him on constant surveillance. There was a strike team standing by in case they needed to move in, but for now everything was quiet. They wanted him to lead them to the bigger fish.

Tony and Michelle walked out together. They didn't even say anything until they reached their prospective vehicles; the silence was unnerving. The tension was driving them both mad. Something needed to happen, for good or bad, soon.

"You going to be okay driving home?" Tony asked, concerned. He knew she hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours.

She sighed and brushed some hair away from her face. "Yeah, I'll be alright, although I am so tired I can't think straight anymore. It's a good thing Mason did send us home. I wouldn't be able to be much use for much longer."

He sighed, "Me too. Do you want me to drive you home?"

"No, I'll be okay." She unlocked her car and opened the door. "But thanks for offering."

Sure. Go home and get some sleep," he said, smiling at how cute she looked exhausted. He wondered what it would be like to fall asleep with her in his arms, but quickly shook the image away.

"Everything okay?" she asked when she saw him shake his head.

"Ah yeah. Thanks for all your help today, Michelle. You did great," he smiled down at her and shut her car door.

"See ya later, Tony," she called as he walked towards his Jeep. He waved and watched as she drove away. He followed her from a distance to make sure she would get home safely. He rationalized it in his head that he took the same route home as she did, as he lived a little beyond her complex. In truth, though, he truly cared that she got home safely. Twenty minutes later he watched her turn into her apartment complex, and knowing he couldn't get away with it without being seen, he ignored the turn off and continued driving to his house. He lived another fifteen minutes outside the city limits, and since he hated apartment living, he rented the top half of a house. A middle-aged couple on the verge of retirement with all their kids grown lived in the bottom half and kept up the ground and yard for the landlord. Tony enjoyed the nice landscape and quietness of the neighborhood, and often tried to look after the couple below him. They were very kind and friendly to him.

Both of them were outside working in the yard when Tony pulled up. He grabbed his briefcase and stopped to chat with them for a few minutes. They assured him they had let Jade, his boxer/pit bull, out and fed her for him. They knew Jade's schedule and automatically stepped in to help with the dog whenever they saw Tony was gone for hours. They knew he worked for C.T.U., but respected the fact he couldn't talk about it.

"Tony, you go on upstairs and get some sleep. I had some leftover chili from last night, so I put it in your fridge."

Tony smiled at Elaine and thanked her. She was always looking out for him, including cooking for him sometimes. He actually liked to cook, but sometimes didn't get the chance to.

He thanked them again and walked upstairs, greeting his half-wild-with-joy dog and receiving a wet face from her excitement. He played with her a few minutes and then walked immediately to his bedroom. As hungry as he was, he was more tired and needed sleep. He barely took the time to strip down to his boxers before he fell into an exhausted, deep sleep.

Michelle woke up, feeling a little disoriented. A glance at the clock told her it was almost four in the afternoon, which meant she had been sleeping for almost eight hours. Eight hours out of almost thirty hours. She wanted to sleep some more, but forced herself to get up. Although she had tomorrow off, she knew she couldn't throw her sleep pattern off too much.

Thirty minutes and a hot shower later, Michelle felt much better. She picked up her phone and called Lily.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lil."

"Michelle! Are you just getting home?"

"No, I got home around eight this morning," she explained, sitting down on her couch and curling her sit under her. "I just woke up, though."

"Is everything okay with work?" asked Lily, concern still in her voice.

"Yeah, everything's fine. How are you feeling? Hangover bad?" she teased.

Lily laughed. "No, not that bad. A slight headache. Nothing like how we used to get."

"I haven't been that trashed in years!" Michelle laughed, remembering the party days from college. She was amazed that with all the partying she and Lily had done with friends, that she had been able to still graduate with honors and a 3.8 GPA. Well, it helped that computers were second nature to her.

Lily had majored in computers as well, but she wanted no part in working for the government. Her father was a career Army officer and Lily had no desire to have the government control her life. She worked for a civilian firm downtown, not too far from C.T.U. She never worked on Fridays, lucky girl, which is why she was home nursing her slight hangover headache. Michelle was supposed to get two days off a week, but they were hardly ever together or on the weekend. Nor did the two days off actually happen sometimes. There were many times where two weeks would go by without a day off.

"Do you have to go in tomorrow?" asked Lily.

"No, thank God, but you never know what might happen. I do have to work Sunday, though."

"Was Tony there last night too?"

Michelle grinned at her friend's attempt to drag Tony into the conversation. Lily was much more aggressive person than she and didn't understand why she hadn't asked him out already. While Michelle had in the past made the first move on a guy once before, she didn't know how to make a move on Tony. She knew he liked to be in control of things, and assumed his personal life was the same way.

"Yeah, but before you ask it was way too busy for anything personal to happen," she cautioned.

Lily shook her head and Michelle could almost here it happen. "Why are you so timid around this guy, 'Chelle? I know he's your boss and he had a bad relationship with a co-worker before, but surely he has eyes to see the situations are not the same."

"I would think so, but I'm just taking my time, waiting for the right moment." Michelle saw the excuse for how lame it really was, and so did Lily.

"Taking your time! Geez, Michelle, you've been working there for a year! How much time do you need?"

Michelle didn't answer her, didn't know how to answer her.

"What are you waiting for? Something drastic to happen to convince you to move ahead? You're not getting any younger, Michelle, and neither is he. There's no time to waste."

Michelle had no clue how prophetic her friend's words would be, for it would take something drastic to make her see she couldn't waste any more time. But for now, she didn't want to hear it.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. Now, do you want to come over and watch a movie with me?"

Lily sighed, but didn't push the conversation. "Sure. What movie?"

"I don't care. Why don't you pick one up on your way over here because I don't feel like moving for the next twelve hours. I'll order Chinese for us."

"Make mine chicken lo-mein and pork-fried rice," Lily said. "I'll be there in an hour."

Michelle phoned in the food order and waited for her friend to get there. She started wondering what Tony was doing tonight, but quickly pushed that thought away from her mind. She didn't want to think about him and what could be.

Tony didn't sleep as long as Michelle had, but then again he had gotten some sleep while she had been at the bar. He woke up around twelve in the afternoon and then went for a run. He didn't have much time to hit the gym, but he did love to run. It gave him time to think and a chance to stay in shape.

As his legs ate up the lane around his neighborhood, he allowed his thoughts to stray to Michelle. As scared as he was that this could be a mistake, he knew he had to chance it. He couldn't keep going day in and day out wanting her from a distance. He needed to take the plunge, ask her out and see what happened. He knew George wouldn't have a problem with it. He and George usually butted heads on things at work, but George wasn't that bad of a guy. He also had a high opinion of both Tony and Michelle, so he didn't think it would be too much of a problem there. Division may not like it, but why did they have to even know? Ryan Chappelle, George's boss, usually didn't even come to C.T.U., preferring George to go to him for the briefings and meetings. Tony didn't like Chappelle much, and he didn't think Chappelle liked him either. Then again, Tony didn't think Chappelle liked anyone.

So how and when should he ask her? He felt his heart race a little faster, and knew it was from his thoughts and not from running. He wasn't a ladies man, but he had had his share of girlfriends over the years. None of them had ever made him as nervous as Michelle was making him. He couldn't seem to even get a complete sentence out unless it was about work. What was it about her that made him so damn nervous!

She was just so genuine, sincere. She truly cared about people, about life. But then again, didn't Nina seem that way? Tony never saw it coming, and no one else had either. That woman was a terrific actress and had fooled everyone. Tony still couldn't believe sometimes that Nina had not only turned out to be a mole, a traitor, but had also killed Teri Bauer, the wife of the head of C.T.U. at the time, in cold blood.

Was Michelle the same way? Deep down inside Tony knew she wasn't, but that didn't stop the irrational fears from forming.

Tony shook the thoughts away and tried to re-direct his thoughts. As distracting as Michelle was mentally, she was also distracting him physically. Her body was intoxicating and the physical side of him wanted to get to know it better. To see what she looked like without her clothes on, to feel her body with his. He wondered what it would be like to make love to her, to feel the physical and emotional connection. Michelle would be much more to him that just sex, but he couldn't ignore that hunger either. The tension between them at work definitely had sexual electricity to it. He knew he'd be a goner if he ever kissed those soft lips or held her.

"Hey Tony!" a voice called to him, and Tony ran up the driveway to a neighbor's home to say hi. It really was good timing on Mr. Edwards part as Tony needed something to distract him from his raging thoughts of his sexy co-worker.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Saturday flew by for Tony and before he knew it he was back to work on Sunday. The silent glances were exchanged between him and Michelle, but he didn't have time to do anything about it. The suspect they were watching was brought in for questioning, but then turned over to Division. It was frustrating sometimes that they worked so diligently on something, only to have Division or one of the other agencies take control and leave them out of the loop.

Wednesday morning dawned like any other day. Tony wasn't due in until eight o'clock and had set his alarm for six-thirty, but Jade woke him up whining about five in the morning. He groaned and turned over in bed, pushing the covers over his head in an attempt to ignore her. He was almost back asleep when she started whining again. He felt her paws on the side of the bed and knew there would be no going back to sleep until he took her outside.

_Damn dog!_ He thought to himself as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and got her leash. Ten minutes of standing outside in the cool morning air woke Tony up completely and although he looked longingly at his bed once back inside, he headed for the shower instead. He noticed Jade go back to sleep on her bed, though. _Damn dog,_ he thought again. He loved his dog, but when she interrupted his sleep…

So it was five to seven in the morning when Tony pulled into C.T.U. He might as well get an early start to the day. As he walked into the bullpen, as the main floor was called, he saw that all the night shift personnel were still there.

"Hey, Tony, what are you doing here so early?" Margaret Wallace, one of the head programmers on night shift, asked.

"Couldn't sleep," he replied. He laid his briefcase down on his desk and looked around. Everything seemed quiet. "Anything going on?"

"Nope, all's quiet. I'm getting ready to prepare for the morning briefing," she answered.

"Okay," he said and turned away from her. He grabbed his Cubs coffee mug out of his bottom drawer and walked down to the break room. Coffee was always on and hot around this place. He gratefully poured himself a cup and started back towards his desk when the door opened and he almost collided with someone.

Michelle.

"Hey," she said. "You're here early."

He watched her drop a Starbucks drink container on one of the tables and a small bag beside it. "I could ask you the same thing."

She smiled. "Can you believe someone called me at five something… a wrong number. I have a hard time going back to sleep once I'm awake."

He nodded, "My dog woke me up around the same time. I couldn't go back to sleep either." He took a drink of coffee and grimaced. "Ah, Michaels must have made this batch. It's awful!"

She laughed and handed him one of the two coffees in the drink container. "Here. I didn't think you'd be here this early, but I knew Michaels was on shift overnight and thought you could microwave it."

It was the first time she had ever done that before… bought him something. He was touched. "Ah, thank you," he said, taking the container. He dumped the existing coffee out of his mug and poured the Starbucks into his mug. It was all about the mug.

Michelle handed him a muffin too, her face a little flushed as she did it. He made no comment other than another 'thank you' and followed her back into the bullpen. They both spent the next hour being briefed by the night staff and organizing today's work.

"Hey Tony," a voice called to him as he started walking in the bullpen back to his desk.

He looked up and saw Paula coming towards him. She was a new programmer, and while she was the nervous, anxious-to-please sort of person, she was genuinely likeable.

"Oh, uh, I didn't know how you liked intel presented at impromptus. Whether you liked it sorted chronologically with an alphabetical key or if you just like separate folders with access tabs."

Tony just looked at her for a second, realizing that although she was likeable, she was also annoying with her let-me-please-you attitude. "Uh… I don't really care."

She smiled. "Oh, it doesn't matter. I did it both ways, so you can choose"

Tony took the disc she handed to him. "Thanks, Paula. George," he said, looking over as his boss was walking by.

"Hi, Mr. Mason," Paula said.

He walked over. "Yeah?" he asked of Paula as she continued to stand there.

"I ordered upgrades on all the sim software. I hope you don't mind."

George looked at Tony and sighed. "Fine," he said.

"They just went from beta to production two days ago and—"

George looked at her and interrupted. "Paula, stop."

"Right. Okay. Thanks," she said, smiled and walked away. Tony hid a smile.

George turned back to him. "What do you need?"

"Division wanted to put a meeting in the books for next month," he said, looked over his desk and writing down some notes.

"For what?"

Tony straightened back up and responded, "They want to see our proposal for the LAX security upgrades."

"Tony, tell you what. If I'm still here this time next year, take me out to the woodshed and shoot me. I was supposed to be in D.C. by now, not chasing little old ladies who set off metal detectors with their damn knitting needles."

Taking a drink of his third cup of coffee, made by someone other than Michaels, Tony inwardly smiled at George's words. He knew he hated his job. Why, Tony didn't know. He personally loved working at C.T.U., even with all the demands and stress of the job.

Outwardly Tony asked, "How about the morning of the fifteenth?"

"That's fine," George sighed as he walked away.

Michelle walked up at that moment. Tony leaned over his computer and put the appointment into both C.T.U. and Division's scheduler for the fifteenth.

"Mr. Mason." He heard Michelle say to get his attention.

"What?"

"I just got off the phone with Eric Rayburn's office at N.S.A." Tony glanced up at this sentence.

"Yeah?"

"They have a request, sir. They want you to take care of it right away," she handed him the piece of paper with the request written on it.

Tony watched from the short distance away, wondering what was going on. George didn't look happy at whatever Michelle was telling him.

George frowned as he looked at the paper. "This can't be right. Eileen, want to get me Rayburn?" he yelled to a nearby tech. "I think he's up in Oregon with the president. Put it in my office."

George walked up the stairs to his office. Michelle followed him for a bit, but stopped at Tony's desk, which was right below the stairs to the director's office.

"What was that about?" asked Tony, watching Mason walk upstairs.

"N.S.A. wants us to bring in Jack Bauer."

"What?" asked Tony, shocked as that was the last name he expected to hear. "What for?"

Michelle shook her head. "I don't know. That's all they said. Isn't Bauer inactive?"

"Yeah, he's inactive," Tony agreed, feeling that horrible weight in his gut whenever he thought of Jack. He hadn't seen him since a few days after his wife's funeral when Jack had come to clear his office out. George Mason had been promoted to Director of C.T.U., which was Jack's old job. Jack was leaving C.T.U., feeling as if the country and his office had turned its back on him and his family in their time of need. Jack had sacrificed everything for the job, and in the end he had still lost his wife. The fact that it was caused by Nina, who had been close to Jack and a co-worker besides, made the situation a hundred times worse. The news was even more upsetting when Tony had found out that Jack's wife had been pregnant. Jack about lost it for a while and knew he couldn't handle staying on the job.

Tony didn't know how he felt about Jack. He did things his own way and was pretty radical about it, but he did get the job done. Tony respected him for that. But more often than not he went about things too radically and too much on his own, preferring to do things his way solo than relying on the help of others. That day when Kim and Teri had been kidnapped, and then later when Nina turned out to be a traitor and killed Teri, had been the worse day for Tony as well. He had gone through hell that day, being suspected of being a mole and then stone-walled by Jack every step of the way. After the fact Tony realized why Jack had been acting on his own and understood. He felt bad for the man, but he definitely didn't need to be coming back into action.

_What the hell did N.S.A. want with him?_

A few minutes later Mason called down to him. "Tony, try to get Jack Bauer on the line for me."

"Uh, okay," Tony said. He looked up the last known number for Jack in the computer and dialed, but only reached his answering machine. He left a brief message, asking him to call him back. He was dying to know what was going on.

_You'll find out eventually. Get back to work Almeida._

Tony had just gotten back in the grove on the report he was working on when Michelle walked over to him and leaned over his desk. Tony felt his heart race a little bit by her nearness. "Have you looked at your system in the last five minutes?" she asked quietly.

"No. What's up?"

She leaned over and hit some keys. "Langley issued an Information Flow Advisory. Something's going on. Whatever it is, it's going to be interagency."

Tony sighed. This wasn't good at all. "All right, uh, look—call Lindauer and Grothy and tell them they don't have the day off after all."

Michelle nodded. Tony got out of his chair, but Michelle didn't back away quick enough and he bumped into her. He held his breath, feeling the electricity in the air between them.

"And, um…" started Tony. _Get your act together man! _"Start filtering everything that comes in, all right?"

Michelle nodded and started walking away. Tony leaned over his computer again, but turned his head to watch her leave. He let himself admire her for a minute before turning back to his computer. An Interagency Information Flow Advisory meant something big, and definitely more work for they all.

Shaking her head at herself for feeling so flustered by Tony's nearness, Michelle sat down at her desk again and forced her brain back to work. She'd just barely started when Paula came over to her station.

"Hey," she said. "Um, something's going on, isn't it?"

"We're not sure," Michelle answered.

"I could do those redundancies for you," offered Paula.

"It's okay," Michelle turned back to her computer.

Paula went on. "I mean, I've studied the protocols. I know how to do it."

Michelle didn't need this right now. She liked Paula, but the girl tried to please everyone and be too helpful. It was annoying.

"Paula, you're trying too hard." Michelle turned to face her, her voice a little hard. She realized that Paula was only trying to help and so went on in a softer tone, "Just do your job. Everything's going to be fine. "

Paula nodded. "I'm sorry. I've waited to get assigned here for two years. I just—"

"All right, heads up!" Mason yelled to the whole bullpen. "I need all department heads over here right now. We have an active priority."

Michelle jumped up and headed over to where Mason stood at the bottom of the stairs that led to his office. Several others gathered in as well to circle around the boss.

"I just got off a conference call with N.S.A. and Division," began Mason. "It appears there is a nuclear bomb under terrorist control somewhere here in Los Angeles, and it's set to go off at some point in the course of the day."

Michelle felt the air in her lungs leave in a rush with those words. _A nuclear bomb! Oh my God! _She could feel the tension explode around her. She looked around and met Tony's eyes. There was no expression on his face, but she could see a thin sheen of sweat glisten on his forehead. He was great at staying professional and she needed to follow his lead.

" So," continued Mason, "From this moment on we do not communicate with anybody outside of our secured envelope. That means we don't call home, we don't talk to friends, we don't call relatives. Our job is to find this device and stop it. We do not want to create panic. I know this isn't very pleasant but this is our job. This is what we do." Mason looked over at them, speaking very calmly and emphatically. "So lets do it."

Michelle immediately thought about her brother, Danny, and his two kids. About Lily. She wasn't allowed to warn them. What if they didn't find the bomb and stop it? They would all be dead. Her blood ran cold, even as she turned around and headed back to her station along with everyone else.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

A nuclear bomb threat. Tony had worked a lot of terrorist problems since being at C.T.U., but he had never worked a nuclear one before. He could feel the instant tension in the building and see the fear on everyone's face. While he was worried about it, he didn't allow himself to dwell on it. It was a serious threat, yes, but nothing they wouldn't handle. No way was he allowing anyone to release a nuclear bomb if he could help it.

George began to walk away after his annoucement, but Tony stopped him. "George, I still haven't been able to reach Jack."

"Don't worry about it. N.S.A. got ahold of him."

"Is this why they wanted him?" asked Tony. "I mean, he's been out of play for over a year."

George looked around and lowered his voice some. "I don't have the details yet but I'm guessing it has something to do with one of his previous covers."

Tony nodded. "Is he coming in here?"

"Yes. The president spoke to him personally and asked him to."

Tony raised his eyebrows at this, taking it all in. This cover must be seriously done by Jack or the president would never have called him. Tony wasn't sure how willing Jack would be to come back to work with CTU. His thoughts came back to the present, receiving some quick instructions from George and then headed to carry them out. His first stop was Paula's station.

"Paula," Tony said. "I need you to open up another socket for me and Mason wants to see you in the conference room."

Paula didn't answer. Tony looked down at one of the computer screens and realized she hadn't answered or moved. "Paula?"

She got out of her chair and walked towards him. "Uh… I don't know if I can do this."

"Of course you can do it," answered Tony, thinking she was referring to his most recent order. She opened sockets all the time for him.

"No, I mean, I-I'm just a programmer and I don't think I work very well under this kind of pressure. So maybe they just want to bring somebody else in."

Tony could hear the fear in her voice and see it on her face. He felt sorry for her. She was just a rookie after all and George's announcement had frightened all of them. But they all had to be confident in their abilities and specific talents or the job wouldn't get done. He had personally hired Paula not two months ago and knew she was perfect for the position, even if she was timid.

"Look, Paula, there is no one else. You're the best at what you do," he said softly yet confidently, hoping to pull her through. "You know the system inside out. That's why you were called in here. You just take it one task at a time."

If she knew he trusted her to do the job, then maybe she'd start trusting herself.Paula just stared at him and Tony wondered if he was getting through. "Now right now," he went on, knowing time was valuable. "All I need you to do is open up a couple sockets. And then get to the conference room. All right?"

She looked away. "Okay?" he persisted.

"Okay," she finally said.

"Thanks," he said and watched as she turned to do what he said. He went back to his computer, but looked up two seconds later to see Jack Bauer walk through the door. He straightened up and waited for Jack to walk towards him. Jack looked like hell. He had a full beard and clothes that had seen better days. He wondered if he had spent the entire last year looking like this. Tony had seen him occasionally since Teri's funeral, and Jack didn't look any better now than he did then.

"Hey Jack," he said, reaching his hand out.

Jack took his hand and shook it. "Hi Tony, how you doing?"

"Fine. How you been?"

Jack smiled but Tony could see right through it. Jack was nothing like the top agent he used to be. "I'm all right. Where's George?"

"He's waiting for you in the conference room."

They both started walking towards the room. "Have you been briefed?" Jack asked him.

"Yeah." Tony opened the conference room door and let Jack proceed him in. George, Michelle and Paula were already seated.

George sighed. "Jack." He stood up and gestured to his right. "Well, Jack Bauer, this is Michelle Dessler---"

"What am I doing here, George?" Jack interrupted. Tony had to hide a bit of a smile. It was the same old Jack… direct and to the point.

George sighed again. "There's a rogue nuclear weapon here in Los Angeles, Jack. Intel says it's going off today."

Tony was leaning against the wall. Jack turned to look at him, and Tony nodded slightly. Jack turned back to George. "How good's your intel?"

"Very. N.S.A. did the groundwork. They have high probability leads on regional cells that might be involved."

"How close are you to I.D.ing a prime suspect?"

"Not close at all," admitted George, shaking his head. "That's what you're here for."

Tony watched Jack, knowing instantly that he wasn't going to help them out. Confirming his feelings, Jack turned around and walked out the door.

"Where you going, Jack?" George called out. "Jack!"

Tony stopped George from going after him. "George, let me talk to him."

George nodded and Tony walked after Jack. He had gone to a nearby desk and picked up a phone.

"Jack?"

He held up a hand. "Just give me a second, Tony."

Tony listened as Jack called his daughter, Kim, and warned her of the bomb. He knew it was no use trying to stop him from warning his daughter as Jack was in a league of his own. Apparently there was some problem between them, though. Tony watched as Kim must have hung up on Jack and then Jack call back and left a message for her. Tony hoped that Kim didn't still blame Jack for what happened to her mom. Jack had enough to deal with losing his wife and his career without losing his daughter too.

Jack hung up the phone and started walking out the bullpen. "Jack, wait a minute." Tony hurried to catch up to him.

"I don't have time, Tony. I'm sorry."

"Jack, listen to me. The reason you were called in is because it's a background match." He stepped in front of him and tried to reason with him. "You're the only one that can run with this."

Jack looked around, but shook his head. "I don't care."

"Look, it's not like before alright," Tony said, knowing he had to work fast. He honestly felt that Jack didn't care. "We can get to Kim before you can. We can get her out of the city and we can keep her safe. I promise you." He looked deep into Jack's eyes, hoping he could see how sincere he was. "The best thing you can do for her right now is help us find that bomb."

Jack lowered his voice, his heart in his throat. "I trusted everybody here at C.T.U. to protect my wife, and I lost her. Tony, I'm not gonna lose my daughter too. I'm sorry."

Jack tried to walk past him, but Tony grabbed him and stopped him again. "I know, Jack. I was there."

Jack sighed and looked down. "Tony, look, I know you did everything you could. I do. I just can't lose my daughter. I'm sorry."

Tony knew there was nothing else he could do to convince Jack. He didn't even turn around as Jack walked out the door. He sighed, started walking back to the conference room and rubbed his face. What would they do now?

"Jack's gone. I couldn't stop him," he said briefly to George. He glanced at Michelle over George's shoulder. She didn't return his look as her eyes were on George and his face.

"That was great, Almeida. Now what?" George asked sarcastically and Tony looked back at the man.

"Back off, George. I did the best I could."

George didn't back down. "I guess your best isn't very good then, is it?"

Tony was about to say something more when Michelle stepped in, trying to defuse the situation. "Look, maybe there's another way to find Wald." Joseph Wald was the background match on Jack that N.S.A. had sent to them.

George turned his frustrations on her. "Gee, why didn't I think of that? I bet you're right."

Michelle looked down, biting her lip. Tony could feel himself getting angry at George for yelling at them when it wasn't any of their faults.

George went on. "I bet N.S.A. just had us bring in a burned-out agent for the challenge of it. I'm sure any number of different guys could have done the job."

Tony had enough. "Settle down George, all right. Let's just sit down, regroup, and figure out what we're gonna do."

"You know what we're gonna do? We're gonna call N.S.A. Now!" he slammed the phone in front of Michelle.

Tony sighed as she picked up the receiver and began to dial, then heard the door open. Jack Bauer was in the doorway. Michelle hung up the phone. Tony looked at Jack and wondered what made him change his mind. Not that it really matter anyway. He could see that Jack was ready to help.

"Here's the deal," Jack began. "I want Knoll or Grothy to pick up my daughter and take her a safe distance outside of this city. "

"Done," George agreed.

"I also want to be kept up to date on their status at all times by Tony," Jack pointed his finger at Tony as if no one knew who he was. "I'm sorry, George, but I just don't trust you."

While it pleased Tony that Jack apparently did trust him, he wondered how George would take it. His eyes flew over to his boss, who didn't seem phased by his words.

"Well, you're going to have to start," George said simply. "What we're up against today, none of us can walk away from, Jack. Tony and I'll both take care of Kim."

Jack looked at Tony and Tony nodded his agreement. "I'll do it now," he said, hoping to make Jack understand he could trust him to get the job done. He began to walk out the door to get one of the agents Jack mentioned.

"Thank you," Jack said as he walked past. Tony met his eyes and there was a silent message that passed between them. Tony knew Jack was placing Kim's safety on his shoulders.

Tony hurried to find one of the agents Jack requested and with a few phone calls, found out where Kim was working. He didn't go back to the conference room, but instead went back to working on finding other leads or information on the threat for today. They would need more than just Jack and his connection to Wald to work with. He just had to find it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Michelle watched as Tony left the room and then turned her attention back to Jack Bauer. He took his coat off, laid it on the back of a chair and looked at Mason.

"Tell me about the regional cells," he said.

Mason glanced at her and so she handed over a file, explaining, "The most promising one is headed by Joseph Wald." She had been briefed by Mason mere minutes before Jack had walked in. She hadn't memorized anything, but had a laptop and its files to keep her up-to-date.

Jack took the file and sat down. "Joseph Wald?"

Michelle could tell by the look on his face that the name was not unfamiliar to him. He looked a little surprised though that his name was tied to the current situation.

"Yeah," Mason confirmed. "Wald's been linked to a terror group called Second Wave. That's why it had to be you. You put in time undercover with him, right?"

Jack glanced up from looking at the file. "I put him in jail, George."

Michelle looked down and hid a smirk at the way Jack made the comment so matter-of-fact. She liked his dry attitude already; he and Mason must have hated working together.

Mason took a seat as well. "Well, he's out on appeal."

"He's actually awaiting trial right now on new charges," Michelle put in, looking at her notes on her laptop. 'If he's convicted he goes away for life."

"What's Wald's connection to the bomb?" asked Jack.

"N.S.A. established meetings between him and alleged members of the group behind the threat," Mason explained.

Jack glanced over at Michelle, but directed his question to Mason, "Why didn't you pick Wald up?"

"We haven't been able to track him down yet."

Paula actually spoke up for once, surprising Michelle that she actually decided to contribute verbally. Paula wasn't good at speaking outloud in meetings. "He's not at any of the addresses in his file."

Jack sighed. Michelle could almost see the wheels turning in his head, and as he continued to ask questions she could see why he was once their top agent. Intelligent and a quick sense of what needed to be done and how to do it.

"Are there any key witnesses against Wald in his upcoming trial?" Jack asked and Michelle turned her attention back to the conversation.

Mason nodded. "There's one."

Paula handed over the file. "Marshall Goren. Apparently, without him there's no case." Wow, two sentences within five minutes. Maybe there was hope for Paula.

Jack took the file and actually smiled. Well, it was more of a smirk really, Michelle decided. "Good," he said. "Bring him in."

"Here? What for?" Mason asked, surprised.

Jack looked at him like he was simple. "You want me to reestablish my cover with Wald, right?"

"Yeah."

"George, it normally takes at least six weeks. You want me to do this in what—under two hours?" His voice turned more demanding. "Where's the F.B.I. holding Goren?"

"Downtown… right here in protective custody."

"Good," Jack nodded, the smirk back on his face. "Bring him in… now."

Mason nodded and Paula jumped up to go do the job. Michelle sighed, looked down at her computer and then at Mason at the corner of her eye. He looked quite uncomfortable. Michelle didn't know how she felt about Jack Bauer either, but at least something was being done. With a nuclear bomb threat out there she wanted something to get done, even if it was Jack Bauer's way.

"Michelle," Jack said, moving over to the chair beside her. "We need to establish my history so Wald's men can confirm I'm still who they think I am."

"Okay." Michelle switched software programs and began to work up a profile on Jack, or who Wald's men would think Jack was. She had anticipated needing this and had already started working one up.

Jack read over her shoulder at what she had done, making her slightly nervous. At one point he stopped her, "Hold up. What's that?"

"We're saying the reason you didn't do any time in California is because you were extradited to Florida on two counts of armed robbery," explained Michelle.

"No," Jack said, shaking his head slightly. "Don't make it army robbery. That's not how they know me. Make it, ah, conspiracy to transport illegal explosives."

Michelle changed it. "Got it." She could feel the contentment build inside her. Man she loved this job! She knew how stressful it was and felt every second was crucial to helping find and disable that bomb, but she loved the aderaline rush it gave her sometimes.

Mason leaned over the desk at them. "Jack, are you gonna let me in on your plan here?"

Jack ignored him and continued talking to Michelle. She felt a little uncomfortable with that, but followed along. "I also need you to get in touch with a Rudy Collette. He's a parole officer out of Hollenbeck. I want you to brief him, and then put him into my cover."

Michelle nodded, writing his name down.

"Jack… look at you," Mason exclaimed. "You look like a bum off the street. You're not talking to me. I just confiscated a witness outside of my authority based on your call. Now, are you going to tell me what you're doing?"

"No."

Michelle kept her eyes on the computer screen, not wanting to get caught between these two. Mason was an alright boss, but when he was pissed off, she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

Mason leaned down closer to Jack. "Are you losing it, Jack? 'Cause I need to know. I just don't have the time or the resources to clean up your messes today."

Jack stared at him and said calmly, "I'm not losing it."

"No?"

Michelle breathed in deep, wondering how far they were going to take this. At that moment the door opened and Marshall Goren was escorted into the room. Jack closed up the files and stood up.

"Just put him in the chair," Jack told the guards, pointing to a chair across the table.

The guards sat him down. Michelle leaned back and observed the man. He was fat and sloppy, and wore a smirk on his face. She instantly didn't like him.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Jack said.

Goren stared at Michelle as if trying to check her out. She twisted her head and looked down at her computer. Jack's next words startled her head back up, though.

"Michelle, please excuse us."

She paused, surprised by the request. "Well, don't you want me to—"

"No," Jack interrupted.

Michelle stared at Jack a second. This was her job, what she was supposed to do. She turned around and looked at Mason. He nodded slightly, so she stood up and walked out, closing the door behind her.

_Oh well. I have to contact that parole officer anyway._ Michelle thought, knowing she couldn't take these things personally.

Three minutes later she was on the phone when she had a gunshot coming from the conference room door. She glanced around at the door, startled, and looked over at Tony. He too was on the phone, but was looking at the door. His eyes then turned to met hers, mirroring the concern she knew she felt.

_What the hell had Jack done?_

Five minutes later Michelle watched as one of the custodians came to the conference room door, a hacksaw in his hand. Jack opened the door, took the saw and closed it again.

Michelle had to turn back to her phone conversation as Officer Collette came on the line. She explained what was going on, her connection to Jack Bauer and what he wanted to her to do. Officer Collette agreed to be put as part of his cover and then Michelle hung up the phone.

Mason had walked out of the room and headed for her, motioning for Tony to join them. "Michelle, Jack's going to be taking off in a helicopter soon to try and reestablish his cover with Wald. I need you to go with him and finished briefing him on everything."

Michelle nodded.

"Tony," Mason went on, "I need you to have Paula finish taking over for Michelle on Jack's profile. It has to be ready when Wald's men look him up. If they feel that Jack has lied to them, they will kill him."

Tony nodded and asked the question they were both dying to know. "What happened in there?"

Mason started to walk away, but turned back long enough to say, "Jack killed Goren to reestablish trust with Wald."

Tony and Michelle stared at each other in shock. What would the F.B.I. say to that!

Tony shrugged after a moment and walked away. Michelle quickly added Officer Collette to the profile and then went for her jacket and purse. She was ready when Jack, freshly shaven and looking much better, came out of the restroom. A helicopter was ready for them.

Michelle had never ridden in a helicopter before and didn't like the loud noise associated with it. It made it harder to concentrate and communicate.

Jack waited until they were in the air for Michelle to finish briefing him. "You'll be dropped three blocks away from the salvage yard," she explained, handing him a gun that Mason had given her to give to him.

"What about the car?" he asked, checking the magazine of the gun.

She reached down in her bag for the keys. "It's ready. We've got a tracker in the trunk."

"Good."

Michelle went back to the laptop. "We've been monitoring the yard. We haven't seen Wald come in yet."

Jack leaned a little closer to be heard. Helicopter rides were hard on conversations. "What about his people?"

Michelle shook her head. "We're not sure. Any of these men look familiar?" she asked, displaying photos one by one on her laptop for Jack to check out.

"No. Yes," he pointed to the next one. "That's Eddie Grant. He's one of Joe's main go-to guys. When I was undercover we were friends. That's good."

Michelle nodded, typing in his name so she could download it to C.T.U.

"Now, as soon as I'm in," Jack went on, "I don't want to see any of our people. You keep everybody at a distance."

Michelle just glanced at him as he looked out the door. Did he think he was the lone ranger or something?

"You got any more information about the size of the bomb?"

"Not yet," she shook her head.

Jack grimaced and looked back towards the door, checking his watch as he did. The helicopter landed a few minutes later and Jack jumped out. She watched as he got into the car and drove off. She felt the helicopter move back into the air and head back to C.T.U. It was a quick ride back, but she tried to relax for a second and closed her eyes.

Would Jack be successful in infiltrating Wald's group again? Could he get the information on the bomb they so desperately needed? What if he failed? There was no other lead besides Wald.

She sighed and opened her eyes, looking down at the ground below. What if she never got the chance to tell Tony how she felt about him? She wanted the opportunity to go out with him, to kiss him, to… _Get a grip on yourself, Dessler! _ She reined her thoughts in just as the helicopter landed back at C.T.U. She hurried off, thanked the pilot and went back to her station.

Tony watched Michelle come back in, relieved that she was back. It was funny how protective he was of her, how much he truly cared that she was okay, but couldn't act on any of it. He promised himself if they got out of this mess today he'd finally ask her out and take the chance.

He headed over to Paula's station. "Paula, have we gotten Division's update yet?"

"Uh, yeah. Tony? Uh, shouldn't we be working from outside L.A.?"

"Why?" he asked, already knowing where she was going.

She glanced around nervously. "Well, if there's a nuclear bomb somewhere in the city---" she didn't complete the statement.

Tony sighed and looked down for a second. He had to get this girl to focus on the task at hand. _Good advise for you too, Almeida._ He told himself, even though his distraction wasn't focused on the bomb but on the woman across the room who was just as explosive.

"Try to tune it out, Paula," he said. "You never know how good the intel is." He rolled his eyes in an attempt at humor, which Paula just smiled a little bit at, and walked away.

"Almeida," George called, walking up to him. "We have a lead. Just caught a couple of coyotes at the border."

"Who are they bringing in?" he asked, following George over to Michelle's station.

"Not who. What. They found something interesting in the van. Michelle, you wanna pull it up?"

Tony settled beside Michelle and watched as she pulled the information on her screen. "There were two forged Middle Eastern passports. The markings on the paper forgeries conform to a process used by suspects on our list."

Tony stared at the information on her screen as George went on, "We found the address in Culver City where they were headed. Let's get somebody over there now."

"Who?" asked Tony, knowing how stretched thin they were.

"Whoever's closest. Who's in the area?"

Michelle looked up at him, knowing what was coming. "The only one in that section is Roy Grothy."

"Good. Send him." George walked away.

Tony went after him. "George?"

"What?"

"That's who we sent to pick up Kim Bauer."

"He's idling over there. Kim's not around."

Tony felt his temper getting ready to flare. "We just promised Jack we were gonna take care of his daughter."

George rolled his eyes. "Fine. Then we'll send one of our gofers over there until he gets back. In the meantime, don't lose this window."

George walked back to his office and Tony sighed deeply. Jack was not going to like this. He turned and glanced back at Michelle. She was watching them, but turned back to her computer when he looked at her.

He sighed again, scratched his face and moved over to his phone. He made the call and then headed back to his desk. They had some more work to do to finish Jack's profile before Wald's people started checking it. Tony figured they had a good thirty minutes to finish it.

He was wrong.

"He's in," called Paula about fifteen minutes later. "They just went online. They're checking Jack's background now."

Tony took some papers that Michelle was handing him and saw the frustrated look on her face. "Already?" she asked. "The network addresses aren't finished routing."

"Better do it now and send it!" Paula responded.

Michelle practically ran back to her computer.

"Tony, did you backfill those Gainesville end dates?" asked Paula, watching the screen.

"Not yet," he said. "I haven't got the clearance codes."

"I need them right away! They're looking for it."

Tony started to break into a sweat. "Man, these guys don't waste any time!"

"I can't believe they got in here this quickly," Paula agreed.

Tony switched computers. "Want me to stuff some data in there?"

"I can't. They want this now. I-I'm just gonna have to forge their server portal and hope they don't look too closely."

Tony glanced over and watched Paula type away. This has to work or Jack was a dead man. He kept trying to get those clearance codes for the Gainesville dates, feeling the anxiety building.

"Come on, Tony," he heard her say a few minutes later. "I need it."

"Okay," he whispered, looking at the screens. "I got it. Hold on. Hold on," he said.

Paula finished and sent it. They all breathed a sigh of relief.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Tony left Paula and Michelle after Jack's cover was confirmed and headed to the restroom. No matter what was going on, three cups of coffee were doing him in now. Besides, he needed a quick break. They needed to find new leads on this bomb, and fast. With so many agencies working on this, you'd think something more than just Wald would have jumped up.

Tony had just gotten back to his desk when he saw George came down his office steps, briefcase in hand. _Where the hell is he going during a situation like this?_

"George, where are you going?" he asked.

"Bakersfield."

"What for?"

George didn't meet his eyes. In fact, he kept walking right past Tony. "Following up on a lead."

Tony didn't believe him. The director of C.T.U. did not just walk out in the middle of a national crisis to follow up a lead. He delegated down to field agents.

"We're shorthanded today so I gotta cover it myself," George added.

Tony shook his head and followed George in order to keep up with the conversation. They were not that shorthanded. "Peter's assigned to Bakersfield."

"Yeah, but I put him on something else."

"Why?"

"I don't have to tell you that," said George smugly.

Tony could feel eyes start to watch them, but he didn't care. George was being an ass, probably getting cold feet about the bomb. He wasn't just going to stand by and let him walk out without calling him on it. "Well, I guess I disagree. I mean if you're just trying to get outside the blast radius—"

George stopped, turned around and walked back to him. "Who the hell do you think you are? Do you have access to my information?" he yelled. His face was red with fury.

"No George. I don't," admitted Tony calmly, but still feeling he was right.

"Then keep your mouth shut and do your job."

Tony stared him down as he walked away and outside the office. _Fucking prick,_ he thought to himself. He didn't say anything out loud, but could feel every eye in the place on him. He met Michelle's gaze, but only for a second before walking back to his desk. He didn't believe him for a second. No way did George like to go out and get his hands dirty.

Tony went back to work coordinating the search on the databases for any other leads on the bomb. He tried to ignore what George had just done, but it was hard to. Tony was in charge of C.T.U. when George wasn't there, but George didn't so much as brief him or include him in anything. The whole situation really disturbed him.

Trying to shake it off, Tony was deep into a conversation with Thomalison when his phone rang. "Almeida."

"Tony, District is on the line for Mason," called Robert, one of the agents on the floor.

"Uh, route the call to me." Tony waited until he heard the "beep" that the call had been transferred. "This is Tony Almeida. How can I help you?"

"Agent Almeida, this is Steve Lawler from District. Is George Mason in?"

"Uh, no, I'm sorry. He is following up on a lead and is heading towards Bakersfield. Can I help you with anything?" Tony walked away from Thomalison for some privacy and headed back to his own desk.

"Yes. We just got a possible vehicle match from L.A.P.D. on someone from our watch list. Now I don't trust them and I want Mason to follow up on it."

Tony looked around and almost smirked. "No problem. I'll call Mason now and tell him to check it out. What's the address?"

Tony copied the information down and hung up with Lawler._ Now try to get out of the city, George._

He dialed George's cell number.

"Mason."

Tony sat down in his chair. "George, it's Tony. How far out of the city are you?"

"Why?"

"I just got off the line with Steve Lawler from District."

"About what?"

Tony sighed. He could hear the irritation in George's voice. "L.A.P.D. made a possible vehicle match with somebody on our watch list. He wants you to check it out."

"This is coming out of L.A.P.D.?" George laughed. "Come on."

"Well, Lawler doesn't trust their judgment either. That's why he wants you there. Plus, he knows it's on your way to Bakersfield."

Tony could almost hear George's groan, and he enjoyed the moment.

"I know you're headed out there to follow up on a lead," Tony continued, trying not to sound too sarcastic. "But Lawler wants this checked out."

"What's the address?" Mason sighed.

Michelle could tell something was bothering Tony, especially since George walked out. She watched him hang up the phone and stare at his computer screen. She hoped everything was okay. Tony got up and went back to where Tomalison was still working.

She wasn't sure if she was okay or not. She couldn't believe George would skip out on them like this. She heard what he said to Tony, but she didn't believe him. George always delegated down responsibilities, not go looking for them. How could he desert them?

It had been almost two hours since the nuclear bomb threat announcement, but she felt like it had been an eternity. There were still no good leads to the bomb, no one had heard from Jack or Wald. How much longer did they even have before the bomb went off?

She could feel herself getting upset and mentally told herself to get a grip. She had a job to do and she needed to do it. _Take one task at a time and focus on it._ She reminded herself. This philosophy had always worked in the past for her and was what had helped her get through.

Her phone rang. "Dessler."

"Can I speak to Tony Almeida please?" a frightened female voice asked.

"Ah, sure. Who's calling please?"

"Kim Bauer."

"Sure. Hold on." She looked over at Tony and said, "Hey Tony, Jack Bauer's daughter is on line five. She sounds pretty freaked out."

He nodded and grabbed the phone. Michelle went back to her screen and picked up the phone to call Division to update them on Jack's mission. _Or really lack of information, _she thought since she didn't have any new information from Jack. However, Division wanted updates every fifteen minutes.

She frowned as she held the phone to her ear, feeling the pinch from her earring.

All she could hear was a lot of static on the line. _How odd_, she thought and pressed another line. It too had static. She tried all the lines, but they were all bad.

"There's noise on all the phone lines," she yelled.

Paula came walking around the corner. "Yeah. I tried to filter, and I can't get rid of it. It may not be our system."

Michelle watched Tony rub his forehead. He was off the phone with Kim and had heard them. "Today of all days," he groaned. "Alright, look, call the phone company and switch all priority calls to wireless protocol, all right."

"Okay," said Paula and she walked away.

Michelle dropped to her knees, feeling the cold of the floor seep through her pantyhose, and checked the connection. She didn't think it was that simple of a fix, but it never hurt to try. A wireless phone rang and she jumped up to get it, hitting her head on her desk in the process. "Dessler," she said, holding the top of her head. _Great, instant headache!_

"This is Eric Rayburn from N.S.A. Let me speak to Mason."

"I'm sorry, sir, but he's not here." she said, glancing around to see where Tony was. She didn't see him.

"Who is the ranking agent?" he asked.

"Tony Almeida, sir."

"Then let me speak to him."

"Yes sir." She jumped up and ran to find Tony. He had walked away from his desk. _Where are you?_ She looked up and saw him outside George's office. She ran up the stairs and handed the phone to him, explaining, "It's Eric Rayburn from N.S.A."

Tony exhaled a breath and took the phone. "Mr. Rayburn, this is Tony Almeida."

Michelle stood there, watching Tony and trying to hear what was going on. "Yes sir. It is… of course."

He started to walk down the stairs. Michelle had followed Tony as he walked down the stairs, but stopped when he paused. "Yes, sir, I did," he said. "May I ask why?"

Cocking her head to one side Michelle could tell it wasn't good news.

"How soon?... Sir, the earliest I can get that done is by noon, and that's shifting personnel… Sir, that may not be enough time…Thank you sir."

Tony hung up the phone and gave her a look. She knew his looks by now and this wasn't good. He walked away, yelling "Paula."

"Yeah?"

"I need to pull you off your sim analysis."

"I'm almost done," she said, typing away.

Tony had stopped by Paula's desk, but Michelle could still hear the conversation. "I need you now. I want you to sort and send data to the N.S.A. server. Everything relevant to the nuke, okay?"

"Ah, when do you need it done?" asked Paula.

"Right now." Tony walked away.

Paula scoffed a little and said, "Ah, okay. I'm going to have to generate a fresh encryption code. I'm gonna need to use Mr. Mason's office. He's the one with proprietary access—"

"Just do it, please. Thank you." Tony's patience was running thin.

"Okay." She jumped up and went up to Mason's office.

Michelle walked over to Tony. "Tony, what's going on? I mean, first the phone lines go down and then N.S.A. puts in a rush order for us to transfer all our data on the nuke?"

Tony nodded, but gave her "the look." "He says it's precautionary."

Michelle sighed. "Then he would have issued the same order to every other agency."

"Look into that, would you?" Tony agreed quietly.

"Yeah." Michelle hurried back to her station and started checking into the other agencies. It just didn't make sense.

Tony grabbed a phone and called George. He answered, but sounded distracted. "It looks like the lead in Panorama City turned out to be real. Some kind of lab where they may have assembled the nuke."

"Based on what?" Tony asked, watching Michelle as she scrambled to get some answers. As stressful as they all were right now, he had to admire her dedication and her intelligence. It had taken her mere seconds to feel as suspicious about Rayburn's request as he did, and then a way to check it out.

"They found radioactive material."

Tony paused and tuned back into the conversation. "What kind of radioactive material?"

'They're still doing field analysis on it," George answered, still sounding distracted. "They don't know."

"Was anyone exposed?"

"Ah, they're putting us through decon now. Precautionary measure. Look, Tony, we have three dead bodies. I'm gonna send you photos and fingerprints on'em. See if they match up with anybody on our watch list."

"George?" Tony asked, hearing noises in the background and wondering if he lost him for a second.

"Look, Tony, I'm gonna have to get back---"

"Hey George," Tony interrupted, determined to ask his question before George had to go. "Look, um, N.S.A. ordered us to send them our case database. Now, Paula's already on it, but, I, ah, get the feeling they're keeping us out of the loop on something."

Michelle walked up to him and shook her head no. Tony rubbed his face.

"It's standard procedure to consolidate data from all agencies.

"Yeah, well, that's just it. We're the only agency they've asked."

Tony heard George sigh and someone say something in the background. "Yeah. Look, Tony, I gotta go. Look, call Chappelle and tell him what you just told me, and see what he can find out for you, but I gotta go."

Tony lowered his brow in worry. _What happened over where George was?_ "George are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine," he assured him but Tony wasn't so sure. George hung up on him.

Michelle walked off after Tony's conversation. A bomb or not she needed to use the restroom. She walked in and found Paula standing at the sink, methodically washing her hands and staring down at them.

"Did you finish exporting those files to Division?" Michelle asked, walking up to her. As much as she felt for the poor girl's obvious fear, that work was number one priority right now.

"Uh, no," Paula answered. "It's in process now. As soon as they finish uploading I'll send an encryption key."

Michelle nodded and moved to one of the stalls. "Okay, good." She saw Paula lean down on one of the sinks and turned back around to her. "Paula, are you all right?"

"Yeah, ah," she stammered, moving towards the paper towel dispenser. "I was--- I was a little nervous before, but Tony said everything's probably gonna be okay…"

Michelle nodded, looking down. The girl was absolutely terrified, and Michelle didn't blame her. She was scared to death too, but she was good at masking her emotions. Normally.

Paula went on, "I grew up in L.A., you know? I mean… my whole family is here. My friends are here. So, if this bomb goes off, what does that mean then? That just means all of a sudden everyone's just gonna die?"

Michelle shook her head. "No. Not necessarily. I mean—it depends on a lot of things."

Paula shrugged. "Yeah. That's probably right. Well, I should check the upgrade."

She started for the door, but Michelle took a step towards her. "Paula? Are you gonna be okay?"

Paula stopped with her hand on the door and turned around. "I guess so. I mean, I'm really scared, but there's nothing I can do about it, right, so… It's fine, Michelle."

Michelle sighed and watched her walk away. She wished she could have comforted her better, but she had no words that could help at this point. Except get back to work and do all she could. She used the bathroom quickly and then headed back to her station. Before she could reach it she was stopped by a security guard.

"Ms Dessler, this gentleman needs to talk to Agent Almeida."

Michelle looked at the young black man dressed in a utility uniform standing beside the security guard. "What do you need to speak to Agent Almeida about?" she asked him.

"I was taken hostage by some men who are gonna blow up this building." He said, shaking and holding a piece of paper.

"What?" she asked. She glanced at the paper in his hands, a blueprint of the building actually, and then back at the man. He was sweating very bad and looked terrified.

"Please, I had to tell someone. They killed my partner! It's going to happen soon! These are the three places where the bombs were placed." He handed her the blueprint and saw markings around three areas.

"Okay, wait here," she said, her heart starting to pound a little.

Michelle ran over to Tony's desk. "Tony, that guy over there, he's asking to see you. He claims he was taken hostage by these men that want to blow up C.T.U. He said the bombs are planted here, here, and here," she pointed to the paper. "Now, I'll have squad check it out."

"No, order an evacuation now!" Tony ordered.

"Wait, we don't know if this guy's---" Michelle didn't see the reason to panic, yet.

Tony interrupted her, "This is why N.S.A. wanted us to transfer over our database. They knew we were being targeted and didn't say a thing. We have to evacuate now!"

It took a millisecond for that to set in. It all made sense. Michelle walked away and yelled, "Everyone! Listen up! We have to evacuate the building quickly and NOW!"

_Son of a bitch! _Tony fumed. He couldn't believe the government knew about C.T.U. being bombed and not tell them. For God's sake they had all the data on the nuclear bomb threat! He knew this was probably why they were targeted, but why didn't N.S.A. warn them? If they didn't get out in time, dozens of lives could be lost, not to mention the data on the nuclear bomb threat.

His phone rang and picked up his ringing phone while Michelle started the evacuation. "Almeida."

"This is Lynne Kresge. I'm Special Assistant to President Palmer. I'm calling to tell you about a possible threat to C.T.U."

Tony started pacing. "We just found out about it. N.S.A. knew about this a half hour ago, didn't they, huh? That's why Rayburn wanted our files." He was pissed off and didn't care who he was talking to.

Kresge ignored that and commanded, "Just get your people out of there! Right now!"

"Yeah, we're on it." Tony hung up. He glanced around and watched as everyone was moving. He heard Michelle instructing them, but there were so many people who worked here.

He grabbed a nearby guy and said, "Come here. I want you to go down this hallway all the way to the elevator, calmly clear everybody out." He pointed down the hallway.

The man nodded and ran to do the job. Tony joined Michelle in assisting people to leave. He glanced up towards Mason's office and saw Paula still inside. _Damn!_ Didn't she realize what was going on? She had to have heard Michelle's order and seen everybody running outside.

He ran up the stairs. "Come'on, get out of here. What are you doing?"

Paula was out of her chair, but leaning over the computer, still typing. "I—I'm almost done with the encryption."

Tony ran over to her and grabbed her arm. "Leave it! There's a bomb in the building."

"Tony we can't lose this data," she insisted.

_Now she's getting brave._ Tony grabbed her. "Would you leave it? Come on!"

They were halfway down the stairs when the building exploded.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Michelle looked around in terror once the explosions stopped. After such deafening noises, there was a second of silence before the moans and wails of injured people sounded around her.

She took inventory of herself. Her arm and her leg, right below her knee, were hurting, but nothing was broken. She had some cuts and probably many bruises, but for the most part she thought she was okay. Her head was pounding, but that hurt before the explosion so she didn't think she had a concussion or anything that serious.

She took a step and stumbled. Was she really okay? She looked down and saw that she had stumbled over a person.

_Oh my God! The building really just exploded!_ Reality was starting to set in. How many people were dead? How could they get to and help everyone who was injured?

Tony.

Oh my God, was he okay? She started scrambling around, looking for him. She saw a man under a beam nearby and wondered if it was him. She knelt down beside him, unable to clearly see the man's face, but he was wearing dark clothing, like Tony was. "Tony?" she whispered fearfully.

Her heart almost stopped. Was he dead? Tears filled her eyes and she reached down to touch him…

"Could we get some help over here?" a familiar voice yelled and Michelle whirled around in happiness. Tony!

He was holding up an injured man. "A little help?" he repeated, looking straight at her. Was it relief she saw in his eyes?

"Tony!" she yelled, her heart pounding in her chest from joy and relief, and jumped up to go help him. He had a cut beside his ear, his hair and clothes were tousled and he was covered from head to toe in dust, but he was alive!

"Michelle!" he said, his voice tight with emotion. "Look, I need you to set up a triage. And take Luke with you."

Michelle nodded and grabbed a hold of the injured man. His arm was twisted at a bad angle and he was groaning in pain. "Okay. Luke, I've got you. It's Michelle."

"Oh, and Michelle," Tony said. She stopped and looked back at him. "Call N.S.A. and have them start working on retrieving our data."

Again she nodded and went to carry it out, feeling overwhelmed by what had just happened. _Focus, Michelle. Lose the emotions and focus on one task at a time._

Taking a deep breath she set Luke down on the floor carefully, shouting to people as she went by. Within minutes she had that area cordoned for triage, Edwards and Richardson working on the damage report, Sheppard checking in with local E.M.S. units, and she herself calling N.S.A. If only she could be in five places at once!

Tony allowed himself one brief moment of relief when he heard Michelle call his name. Thank God she was alive and looked okay. He looked around at the chaos. So many others were not. Someone had a flashlight and was looking underneath some beams. He hurried over to help them.

"Let me see that," he said. Paula was pinned under the beams and didn't look good at all. _My God, is she dead?_ "Paula? Paula, can you hear me?"

She opened her eyes. "Wh—what happened?" she whispered.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief that she was still alive. "You don't have to speak. Just blink your eyes if you can hear me," Tony instructed. She blinked several times. "We're gonna get you out of there. Just hang tight. All right?"

The man who had originally been helping whispered to Tony as he stood up. "She's bad man."

Tony looked around, agreeing with his assessment. "We've got to get a crane or hydraulic lift or something in here now."

"We have to be careful," the man said. "If we pull off the wrong piece the whole thing could come down and crush her. We have to do this brick by brick."

"That's gonna take forever," Tony moaned. He ran a hand through his very dirty hair. "All right. Let's do it."

Tony had a hard time tuning out everything around him. So many people needed help and attention. While he knew that medics had to be on their way, he still felt torn to be in a million different places. He looked up from moving some bricks to see Michelle organizing people and trying to make something out of the chaos. He felt comforted by the fact that he could rely on her at a time like this. She wasn't breaking down or losing it when everyone needed her the most.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" the man who was helping Tony, whom Tony didn't even know, whispered as they worked.

"I--- I don't know," admitted Tony.

Michelle ran over to him. She had the initial damage report numbers and rattled them off to him. Her face was a mask of control, but he could tell she was shaken by the numbers as her hands were trembling. He was upset by the large number of casualties already claimed as well, and so many more could follow if they didn't get some help soon.

Michelle then she handed him a wireless phone. "Shouldn't you call George?"

"Ah, yeah." He grabbed the phone and dialed the number. Once George answered, Tony had to almost shout to be heard over the noise. "They hit us, George. They bombed C.T.U."

"Wh—what kind of damage?" asked George, sounding stunned.

"Damage reports are still coming in, but so far we've got 19 people dead, 20 wounded and seven missing." Tony ran his hand through his hair again in frustration and anguish. "Look, we're bleeding bad here, George. All of our intel on the nuke was destroyed. I mean, it's on the N.S.A. server but Paula wrote the decryption code and she's in really bad shape."

"Just do whatever you have to do to retrieve it. "

"Yeah, well, I am. That's what I'm trying to do." Did he think he was stupid? "That's why I called you. Chain of command, remember?"

"Call N.S.A. systems people. Get them on it," George ordered.

"I already did, George."

"Good."

Tony had enough. Didn't George care at all about what had just happened? Was he still that concerned with getting out of town that he could overlook the murder of all these people? "Look, when are you coming back here?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Well, the sooner the better." Tony nodded to the men helping dig out Paula, cradled the phone in his shoulder and help them lift off an especially heavy piece.

"Look, Tony, the truth is, I may not be coming back."

_What the hell is he talking about? _"Why not?" he asked, breathing heavily.

"I'm not really in a position to help out."

"What are you talking about?" _Why the hell wouldn't George be able to help out? Or was it willing? _"Look, a nuclear device is set to go off sometime today in Los Angeles. We just lost half the people who were in a position to keep it from happening. So don't tell me you're still trying to cover your own ass!"

"Look, just deal with it, Tony, okay? Just deal with it. All right?"

"Yeah right." Tony threw the phone in anger. _That son of a bitch! _

"We need to try to stabilize her neck when we remove these bricks here," a man was saying and brought Tony's attention back to the matter at hand. Several others had gathered to help dig Paula out. He mentally called George all sorts of names as he went back to help.

Michelle felt like she was going crazy trying to help everyone and still set up some semblance of order. There was absolute chaos everywhere!

"No, no, not over there," she stopped two men from moving some audio equipment. "That area is being used as a triage. Move it over there," she pointed to another section of the bullpen.

Tony's phone rang and she hurried to pick it up. "Tony Almeida's line."

"Who's this?" a male voice asked, but she couldn't identify who it was with all the noise around her.

"Michelle Dessler. Who's this?"

"Michelle, this is Jack Bauer. What's going on over there?"

"There was an explosion about twenty minutes ago. Twenty-one casualties. The number's growing," she explained, covering her other ear with her hand in order to hear him.

"Why wasn't C.T.U. evacuated?" Jack asked.

"There wasn't any time," Michelle explained, closing her eyes in agony as she watched some people carry a dead man away.

"What do you mean, there wasn't enough time? What about Mason? Is he all right?"

"He wasn't here." Michelle cleared her throat and ignored the tear that fell on her cheek.

"How about Tony Almeida?"

"He's okay. He's helping the rescue workers."

"Fine. Can you handle the situation report?"

"Yeah," she frantically looked around Tony's desk for a pen and paper. "Okay, go ahead."

"I've located Joseph Wald. I'm on my way there now."

"What about Wald's crew?" Michelle asked.

"They're all dead."

Michelle paused. "Dead?"

"Just let Mason know I'm on my way to Joseph Wald's house. The address if 221 Canyon View Road in Simi Valley."

"Okay. I'll send backup," Michelle promised.

"Okay."

"Oh, Michelle, let Mason know I talked to Kim. She is leaving the city."

Michelle nodded, "Yeah, she called here too and she spoke to Tony."

"She did?" Jack asked. "What did she say?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll look into it," Michelle promised.

"Okay. Get back to me. Thanks."

Michelle hung up and went looking for Tony. He was still trying to help get Paula out.

"Tony. Tony?" she called.

She heard him coughing. "What's up?" he asked, coming towards her.

"Just got off the phone with Jack Bauer." She placed her hand on his arm to steady herself. There was debris everywhere.

"Where is he?"

"He's on his way to see Wald. He wanted Mason to know."

Tony looked around. "Yeah, well, Mason's checked out. Just get the information directly to N.S.A. All right?"

She nodded and started to turn away, then remembered. "Oh, and he asked about his daughter, Kim."

Fear filled Tony's face. "Oh, oh no."

"What?" Michelle asked.

He started looking around. "She was on her way here. Look, ah, can you check the security logs and see if she was in the building?"

Michelle nodded. Tony took her hand and squeezed it a second. "Thanks," he said and moved back to help Paula.

Tony did his best to help dig out Paula, especially since he was feeling responsible for her being in this predicament. If he had gotten to her sooner, maybe she would have been out of that area by the time the bomb exploded. He knew that was irrational of him, but he couldn't help but feel the blame.

However, despite his good intentions, he was constantly interrupted with requests. He knew Michelle was taking care of most of them, but ever since Jack's call she had about four additional priority tasks to do first.

"Tony," Harold from I.T. came up to him. "We're trying to work on accessing Paula's work, but we need the password."

Tony closed his eyes. George's password. Great, he was hoping not to have to talk to him for a while. Instead he picked up the phone attached to his hip and dialed George's numb

"Tony?" George asked. "I thought I told you to handle this yourself."

"Yeah, well, truth is, right now if I didn't have to talk to you again I'd be happy, but the I.T. people need to access the data stream Paula was working on. It's on your system so we need your password."

"My password?" George asked.

"Yeah,"

"Hendrix."

"That's with an "x"?"

"How else would you spell it?"

"Yeah, right," Tony rolled his eyes. "Thanks, George."

"Tony."

"What?"

"How's Paula doing?"

"Not so good. We're still trying to dig her out, but she's nonresponsive. Look I've gotta go."

"Okay."

Tony hung up and went upstairs to put in the password and get I.T. moving.

Michelle breathed a sigh of relief as she saw most of the injured were getting attention by the E.M.S. staff. Several were being taken out in stretchers and ambulances to local hospitals. She brushed them all off when they tried to check her out… she was going strong and didn't want to stop. She was in much better shape than most of the people here.

As she hurried by to work on the N.S.A. report from Paula's computer she watched as Tony and the rest of the men tried to get Paula free. Most of the debris was off of her, but there was still some to go. Two medics were helping them and had the equipment ready to take over as soon as she was clear.

Some time later they finally were able to get all the bricks and beams off of Paula. Tony stepped back and let the medics step in. The medics were immediately on her, taking her blood pressure and assessing her condition.

"B.P.'s 0 over 50. Get saline into her stat," the head medic ordered.

"Is she all right?" asked Tony, fearing the worse.

"She's hemorrhaging internally. The girder staunched the bleeding, but once we lifted it off, the dam broke." The medic explained as they all worked to get an I.V. into her.

"Can you stop it?"

"If we don't get to the E.R. now, she'll bleed to death."

Tony stared at Paula, knowing the worse was now a reality. The medics began to carefully turn on her on her back. Tony participated in helping to lift her to the stretcher and walk her out to the waiting ambulances.

They were almost to one when Tony heard Mason's voice. "Get a structural engineer on the phone and get him over here now. In the meantime, I have to keep people working."

George noticed them and came over. "What's going on here?"

Tony breathed deep. "I should ask you the same question, George. I thought you weren't coming back here."

"I changed my mind."

"Oh, you did? Why?" Tony couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice.

George stepped in his way. "I don't have to answer to you, so drop the attitude. How bad is she?"

"She's bad. She's bleeding internally."

George looked at the medic. "Anything you can do at the hospital you can do here, right?"

"No," the medic answered. "She needs surgery. We can't do that in the field."

"You're going to put her under anesthesia?"

"That's right," the medic confirmed.

"What are you doing, George?" Tony asked, even though he already knew.

"How long will she be under?" George ignored him and asked.

"Couple of hours."

"Then she stays here."

Tony tried to fight him, "George, we can't keep---"

"Everything we have on this nuke has been destroyed. The only intel we have left is the database that Paula sent to the N.S.A. and they didn't get the code."

"Then we'll assign other I.T. people to retrieve it."

"She's the only one that can decrypt those files and you know."

"We'll send a programmer in the truck with her to get it!" Tony tried desperately.

George yelled, "We don't have time. I need her here, and I need her lucid. Just for a few minutes. I don't care what you have to do," he said to the medic. "Can you get her conscious?"

The medic hesitated. "I can administer epinephrine. Maybe get her B.P. up temporarily."

Tony shook his head, "You're out of your mind, George."

"Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better."

Tony felt like crying, something he hadn't felt in a long time. "This girl deserves a chance to live."

George stared at the medic. "Wake her up. Now."

Tony stormed back into C.T.U. The medics and George followed him back.

Michelle watched incredibility as Paula was wheeled back in. She went up to one of the medics. "What's going on? Why is she back here?"

The medic didn't answer. Michelle looked around and saw Tony. She went up to him, but he kept walking. She wasn't put off.

"Why is Paula still here?"

"It's Mason's call."

"She has almost no chance of surviving if we don't get her to a hospital now."

"Yeah, I know."

Michelle was confused. "I thought Mason wasn't even coming back."

Tony stopped and sighed. "Well, he's back. He's trying to revive Paula long enough so she can access the information she was sending the N.S.A."

"So he's just gonna let her die?" she asked in disbelief.

Tony hung him head, but admitted, "I'm not so sure Mason made the wrong call."

Michelle stared at his back, thinking it through.

Tony went on, "I mean, Paula's the only person that can retrieve that information."

He looked up and saw Paula's bloody face on the stretcher, the medic getting the epinephrine ready. He sighed deeply and hung his head. Michelle could feel his pain, understood the horrible decision. She lifted her hand and hesitated placing it on his back to comfort him. She eventually let her hand touch him and whispered, "I'm-I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Tony."

He exhaled sharply and turned around. "It's just, I'm the one that brought her to C.T.U. I hired her."

Michelle could see he was so upset by these events. He was almost in tears. She let him talk it out. Maybe he'd feel better.

"This job is all she ever wanted to do. She never even got a chance to do it."

Michelle whispered, "She did." Her eyes strayed over to where Paula lay, and then back to Tony's. He straightened up as if ready to move on, but she didn't move. They were inches from each other and her heart rate jumped. Now wasn't the time or the place, but she couldn't move away.

His gaze was intense, but eventually he whispered, "We'd better get back to work."

Michelle nodded and moved on, her hands shaky from the tension between them.

He watched Michelle walk away and exhaled a deep sigh. Another time and another place for them. The phone in his hand rang and he picked it up. District had a lead that they needed checked out. Tony took the information and immediately decided to do it himself. He had to get out of here for a little while; besides, there weren't many choices in who could go. They were down several agents.

He grabbed his jacket, keys and briefcase. He stuffed his laptop inside and started walking out. George saw him and stopped him.

"Hey, where are you headed?" he asked.

"To follow up on a lead that just came in. There's an L.A. connection to Syed Ali." Tony leaned down at another desk and tried to find a connection cable to fit his laptop.

"Well, look, send somebody else," George said. "I need you here."

Tony found the cable and stood up. "To do what? Watch Paula die?"

"Tony, we have got to get the encryption codes out of her, or we're gonna lose everything. We can't let that happen today," George explained calmly.

Tony understood, but he didn't have to like it or stand by and watch it. "Yeah, well, like I said, you got it covered. I'm gonna follow up on this lead."

He started walking past George, but his boss followed him. 'No. You're gonna stay here, and that's an order!"

Tony stopped and turned around. "Look, there's a Middle Eastern businessman in L.A. who's had contact with Syed Ali recently. Now, Ivers and Appell are dead. Who do you want me to send?"

George stared at him for a minute, but finally said, "Be reachable. All right?"

"Yeah." Tony swirled around, unaware that Michelle had been right behind him. He looked at her, thought about saying something, but just went on his way.

Michelle sighed and tried to will her exploding headache away. She was trying to set up the network correctly, but was having an incredibly difficult time. The bomb had destroyed so much. It was frustrating to no end.

"Michelle!"

She turned around and walked towards George. He continued when she got close enough, "Can you get somebody to set up an interrogation room? We got somebody coming in."

"Who?"

"Nina Myers."

How many shocks can this day bring? Nina Myers! "The C.T.U. agent who killed Jack's wife?" she asked.

George nodded. "I need as close to maximum security as I can get. And three armed agents standing by."

He walked away before she could say anything else. While her brain was bursting with this news, she turned to make it happen. _How the hell was Nina Myers involved in all this? Did she know anything about the bomb that has just gone off at C.T.U.? The nuclear bomb? Or both?_

"Ms. Dessler?" a medic said, coming up to her.

"Yes?"

"We need to check you out."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but now's not a good time."

George walked by and said, without even stopping, "Let them do their job, Michelle. I need you at full capacity. You can talk on the phone while they do it, okay?"

She sighed and sat down on the desk for the medic. She started coordinating the interrogation room via phone while they checked her pulse, blood pressure, and so forth. In between calls they asked if she hurt anywhere.

_How do I answer that? Everything hurts right now. _She wondered."Um, not really. My wrist, a little bit. Below my left knee, and I have a killer headache."

The medic took her wrist and started feeling around it. She cringed as he moved it too far to the left. "That hurt?" he asked.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

"Well, it's not broken, but you may have sprained it. Until you get the chance to get a complete check-up from the doctor, I'll wrap it up for you." He turned to look in his case for gauge bandages. He came up with a bottle of Tylenol too. "Here, this might help."

She swallowed the pills with some water he provided, and then her phone rang again. She handed him her wrist and talked using the other hand and her shoulder. She handled the call quickly and looked around for George. He was standing nearby talking to another medic, so she called to him. He nodded to the medic and walked over. The medic working on her finished her wrist and started on her leg. She felt him clean the wound and then start to bandage it as well.

"Yeah?"

"Off-duty agents are finally arriving, and Division called," she said. "The chopper just lifted off. Nina Myers is on board."

"Good," he said. "Let's set up the mobile video unit for the interrogation then."

"Okay." She looked around and saw an I.T. tech she could use. "Laurie I need you to call downstairs. Get Bill. Have him bring up a video rack, okay?"

Laurie nodded and got on the phone. The medic finished with her leg, gave her a smile and moved off. Michelle walked down to the hallway where the interrogation rooms were to make sure everything went off without a problem. They were fine, the three armed agents waiting for Nina Myers to arrive. She gave them some quick instructions and the moved back to the bullpen.

She saw Jack Bauer talking to George. She assumed he was here to be debriefed, but wondered how he would react to seeing Nina again. The woman had killed his wife! Michelle got a very bad feeling in her stomach. This couldn't play out good.

"She's awake!"

Michelle jerked her head to where the medics stood working with Paula. She started jogging in that direction.

"You better move fast. I don't know how much time you have," the medic warned George.

George leaned over the poor girl. Michelle went over to the computer that was set up beside the stretcher. They had put it there so when Paula did wake up they could put in the encryption codes without having to run up and down to Mason's office.

"Paula? It's George Mason. Can you hear me?"

Paula moved her head slightly and looked at him. Michelle's heart skipped a beat. She looked like death itself, and when she spoke it was barely a whisper. "What happened?"

George leaned down closer to her. "We had a big explosion. Do you remember the encryption codes, Paula? You're the only one who had them."

Paula closed her eyes and tried to cough. It sounded almost like she was choking. Michelle's eyes flew to the medic, but he didn't do anything.

"Stay with us, Paula," George encouraged.

Michelle spoke up, "Paula. You were transferring files out to N.S.A. Do you remember that?"

Paula opened her eyes and looked at her. "Yeah."

"Yeah, well, the transfer didn't complete. They didn't have the source decryption key."

"The source?"

Michelle could barely hear her. "Yeah. The source key. That's right. See, normally you send it in a separate packet, but the router was destroyed. Did you make a copy of the source key before you sent it?"

Paula started gagging, but was able to say, "Yeah."

George waited until she got under control. "What is it? Do you remember?"

"Sub-volume."

Michelle said, "Okay," and whirled back to the computer. "Uh, which volume?"

George repeated it for Paula," Which-which volume? Which one? Paula, stay with us. Which one?"

Michelle went back to her. "Paula, your disk is partitioned into over fifty volumes. Do you remember which one?"

Paula was barely breathing and was gasping. The medics moved in. Michelle leaned over her face to hear, "Etudes."

Michelle went back to the computer and tried to find the volume. "Come on, come on, come on," she murmured.

"Hang in there, sweetie," she heard George say to Paula behind her.

Michelle kept looking. _Where was it? Damn it!_

What a minute- there! "That's it. That's it," she called.

"Great!" George said.

Michelle covered her face with her hands and listened to George speak to Paula, "Hey, you did good. What you just did is gonna save a lot of lives today."

Michelle turned around and watched the medics move the stretcher. 'The hospital, now," George told them.

They all heard the monitors on her start beeping.

_Oh no!_ Michelle groaned, tears filling her eyes.

"She's in V-tach," the medic yelled. They started to try to shock her heart back in rhythm. They tried several times, but she continued to flat line.

Michelle closed her eyes in agony when they announced, "She's gone."


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks everyone for the reviews. To address a concern someone shared I want to say that, yes, I am copying the script from the show, obviously, but I am doing so while at the same time trying to incorporate the thoughts and feelings of Tony and Michelle during that day. Their thoughts and feelings, as well as adding some of my own scenes not in the show, are my own original ideas. While Day 2 part of this story is long, it is only the beginning of my fanfic. I already have several chapters written to express my vision of TM's relationship after Day 2. **

**Thanks again to everyone for their reviews, good or bad. I appreciate them all! **

Chapter Eight

Before leaving C.T.U. Tony stopped in the restroom to clean up. He didn't want to arrive at a suspect's house to interrogate him looking like he'd just been through an explosion. Fortunately the locker rooms were not destroyed or even severely damaged, so he was able to get a fresh shirt and pants out of his locker. He'd always kept a change of clothes with him, and today it paid off.

He stood in front of the sink in the restroom and stared at his reflection. With his shirt off he could see several bruises on his chest and stomach, and he winced as he touched them. He took a paper towel, wet it and scrubbed the dried blood off his face, neck and arms. There was on particularly painful bruise on the side of his face, right below his ear.

_Oh well, you're alive, Almeida. _

He wet his hands and rubbed through his hair, trying to get the dirt and dust out of it. It took several tries, but he finally got it looking better. He wished he had a brush or something, but he'd never needed it before at work and refused to raid the women's locker room. He combed it as best he could with his fingers, applied fresh deodorant and put the clean shirt and pants on.

He looked and felt much better after cleaning up. He stared again at his reflection and let his thoughts wander to the past several hours. His eyes closed in agony as he thought of the loss of life, and so many more who might die. Like Paula. He knew they needed that information in order to potentially save millions of lives, but it was so hard to stand by, watch a person die and do nothing.

He shook his head, trying to dispel the horrible images in his head. He'd have to deal with these feelings and emotions later, after this crisis was over and he was home. Not for the first time he wished for someone to go home to. Someone who would hug him and fuss over his injuries, minor that they were. He was thirty years old and tired of being alone. He wanted someone who could understand him and how his job made who he was. No civilian understood what went into protecting this country, and he couldn't talk about so many things even if they did understand.

Michelle understood and could talk about it. He wasn't sure how wise a relationship was for two people working in this career, but that was one plus to it. She would know what was bothering him and how deep the pain went sometimes. She was going through the same thing. They could lean on each other, comfort each other.

If only the memory of Nina wasn't still in his mind. He knew it wasn't fair to either Michelle or himself to let her betrayal stop something potentially wonderful, but he was scared of being hurt again.

The sound of the door opening and another man walking in to use the restroom brought his mind back to reality. Like everything else, this would be sorted out later. He had a job to do.

After tossing his dirty clothes in his locker, he called Agent Tom Richards and informed him that he needed him to go with him to the lead's house.

Twenty minutes later Richards pulled up to the house of Robert Warner. The Middle Eastern man whom he needed to speak to was apparently getting married to Mr. Warner's daughter today. Tony knew he wouldn't be a welcome guest, but there was no other option.

Tony got out of the passenger seat, shut the car door and looked at the man who had been standing with a young woman at the front of the house. By the look of him he could be no other than Robert Warner.

"Hello, sir. I'm Tony Almeida from Los Angeles C.T.U." he shook his hand and then introduced the agent that had come with him. "This is Agent Richards."

"C.T.U.? What is C.T.U.?" Mr. Warner asked, looking at the badge Tony handed him.

"Counterterrorist Unit."

Mr. Warner glanced up quickly, startled.

Tony went on, glancing around the front of the house. It was busy with tons of people, getting ready for the wedding, no doubt. "I'm looking for a Reza Naiyeer."

"What's this all about?" the young woman standing behind Mr. Warner asked.

"Ah, it's a government matter, ma'am," Tony answered. He accepted his badge back from Mr. Warner.

"A government matter?" she repeated.

Tony nodded. "I just need to ask a few questions of Mr. Naiyeer."

"Mr. Almeida, right? My daughter," he said, pointing to the young woman with him, "hired a private investigator to do a background check on Reza. It's all been cleared up."

The young woman leaned closer to her father, but said loud enough for Tony to hear. "Actually, Dad, it hasn't been all cleared up."

Tony could tell the young woman was nervous and that there was obviously some tension between father and daughter about the young man. Tony wasn't informed by Homeland Security who started the investigation on Naiyeer, but he would bet anything it was this woman.

Mr. Warner ignored her. "Can this wait? You see, today is my other daughter Marie's wedding. She's getting married to Reza."

Tony took off his sunglasses and noticed them start at the bruise on the side of his face, the one that hurt like hell. "Look, I'm sorry for the bad timing, Mr. Warner, but no, this can't wait. Now, I'm authorized to interrogate Mr. Naiyeer. Are you gonna take me to him, or do I have to find him myself?"

Mr. Warner's eyes never left Tony's as he said, "Kate, go find Reza."

The woman glanced nervously between the two of them and then went into the house.

Mr. Warner asked, "What's going on here?"

Tony looked away for a second, pondering whether to tell him anything or not. "Look, all I can tell you is that I'm part of an investigation involving national security and I'm hoping Mr. Naiyeer can assist me."

Mr. Warner nodded, his eyes shadowed from any emotion, and escorted them inside the house. "You can set up in here," he said, leading them into the dining room. Tony took out and set up his laptop. He opened the file Agent Richards had given him on Naiyeer and reviewed it one more time as he waited. The man was the C.F.O. of a large corporation with whom they had evidence of a transaction between his corporation and Syed Ali, the man they believed was behind the bomb threat. Someone from Warner's company had transferred a large amount of money into an account under Ali's name.

A man younger than Tony would have thought was escorted into the room by Richards. Tony nodded at the other agent and he shut the door on his way out. He was to stand guard by the door so no one tried to come in.

"Mr. Naiyeer, I'm Agent Tony Almeida and I work for a counterterrorist unit for Los Angeles. I need to ask you a few questions."

"Counterterrorist unit? What's this about?" the young man demanded.

"Please, have a seat," Tony asked. He waited until the man, who obviously had a chip on his shoulder, complied.

"You are the chief financial officer, correct?" he asked.

"Yes, but what does my job has anything to do with a terrorist unit?"

Tony ignored the question. "Do you know a Syed Ali?"

The man did look honest as he said, "No," but Tony knew terrorists could be great actors.

"So as chief financial officer you oversee all the money that comes in and out of the company. Is that right?"

"Right. And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm getting married today. So if we could just do this another time, I'd appreciate it." Naiyeer stood up and started for the door.

Tony pointed back to the chair. "Could you sit down, please? We're not done. Sit down." Tony leaned back over his laptop and waited for the man to do what he said. Naiyeer huffed, but stood there. Tony glanced back at him and said more forcibly, "Sit down!"

He did.

"So, why don't you tell me about Syed Ali," Tony asked.

"I told you before; I do not know a Syed Ali."

"Oh, you don't?" Tony asked.

"Yeah."

"Then how do you explain the fact that his name is in your personal computer files?" Tony turned the laptop around and pointed to the screen. He watched as Naiyeer glanced at the screen, and then studied it. Tony got the impression that he had never seen it before.

Naiyeer glanced up at him. "I don't know," he said.

Tony leaned on the table. "You don't know?" he taunted. "All right. Why don't we start again?" he turned the laptop back around to face him.

Back at C.T.U. Michelle finished setting up the video feeds for the interrogation. George was already in there with Nina Myers. Jack was sitting across from Michelle, trying to do his debrief on the Wald mission, but she could tell he was having a hard time concentrating. Seeing Nina again must be so difficult for him.

She wondered how she would feel or react if someone who had killed one of her loved ones came back into her life. She didn't know if she'd have the grace to be in the same building as them without going loco.

Jack stood up and came over to her, handing her a CD. "Here's my debrief. It's finished."

"Thanks," she said and watched as Jack moved over a few feet, staring at the hallway leading to where Nina was. She sighed. George specifically told her to get Jack out of there as soon as he was done. She could see that was easier said than done.

"Jack, I am supposed to get you out of here. That's not gonna happen, is it?" she asked.

"It's the first time I've seen her since---"he cut off, lowering his head.

She moved in next to him. "Why are you doing this to yourself, Jack? Mason's right. You should get out of here."

Her phone rang and she moved to answer it before Jack could say anything. "Michelle Dessler."

"Is Jack Bauer there?" a woman asked.

"Yes, he is. Hold on." She looked over at the hurting man. "Jack."

He didn't move, so she went over to him. "Jack, it's for you."

He took the phone. "Jack Bauer…. Yes."

Silence for a moment. Michelle moved behind Jack, but still listened. She had a curiosity to no end. "Mr. President," she heard him say. "Yes sir… that sounds like a pardon, sir… so do I, sir… Yes, sir."

He hung up the phone. Michelle slowly walked up to him and asked, "What is it?" She had a bad feeling that President Palmer was going to pardon Nina Myers in order to get information from her. Jack didn't answer so she moved away slightly. She was almost to her desk when she heard him say between clenched teeth, "They're gonna let her go."

Michelle shook her head, sorry to be right. God, that had to be killing Jack! But if she had information for them they could use, that was the only call the president could make.

Roger and Walt came up to her station, rolling the rest of the video equipment she needed to get live feed from the interrogation room. "Good," she said. "Set it up here. Have it ready to go."

Another tech was working with the cords, setting everything up. She watched as the video monitors turned on, brining up a blue screen. "Great! Great. Okay, skip the virus cycle. Just get these all on-line," she said.

Jack came up to her. "Michelle, I need you to get me all of Mason's log-in sheets over the last twelve hours. I need to know everywhere he's been."

_What? Like I'm not busy enough as it is. Besides, Jack didn't have the clearance for that. _ She moved around him to finish up with the monitors. "I'm sorry, Jack, but you're not cleared for that information."

He stopped her. "Then clear me for it. I'm right in the middle of this thing. You know what the stakes are."

She sighed. "What does it have to do with George?"

"I need to make sure he's fit to run C.T.U," Jack whispered.

"Fit?" she asked incredibly.

"I think something's happened to him. Michelle, believe it or not, I used to run this place. I know what I'm doing," he pleaded. "I want to help him. Please. Get me those log-in sheets."

He walked away before she could say anything. She didn't know what to do. She sighed and then went to get those logs for Jack, following the feeling in her gut that he was onto something. Five minutes later Michelle handed the logs to Jack and walked away without a word to him. He'd better be right.

"Surveillance is all hooked up in the interrogation room, Michelle," Walt told her about ten minutes later.

She nodded and looked up to see Nina Myers faced plastered to four different monitors. She felt Jack move in beside her and stare at them.

Her phone rang, startling her. "Dessler."

"Michelle, I need you to go get Nina's file and give it to Jack. As soon as President Palmer signs her pardon, Jack is going to interrogate her," Mason said.

She looked up and saw Mason in his office. He was staring down at her. "What? Why would you let Jack anywhere near her? He'll kill her."

"Just do it, Michelle," Mason snapped and hung up.

For about the hundredth time today Michelle wondered what the hell was going on around here! She couldn't understand why Mason would suddenly allow Jack to interrogate Nina when as of a few minutes ago he was begging Jack to leave. It didn't make any damn sense!

Unless something had happened to Mason this morning at the warehouse and Jack was blackmailing him. Michelle made a mental note to check into what happened at the warehouse this morning. If Mason was sick or injured, was he capable of running C.T.U. in this time of crisis?

Michelle went down to the archive room, retrieved Nina's file and went back to hand it to Jack. He was still staring at the monitors. She held out the file, "Nina's file," she said to him.

He didn't stop looking at the monitors, but said quietly and confidently, "I don't need it."

Michelle withdrew the file, looked at Mason and walked away. She had a lot on her plate, but she was going to make some discreet inquiries into what happened to Mason this morning as soon as she got the chance.

Tony was getting no-where with this guy, and losing his patience in the process. He continued to question him, not allowing his impatience to show, while Nayieer did nothing to hide his. Tony knew Nayieer could easily not be the man who did business with Ali, but as chief financial officer he had to have been aware of the transaction, and knew who did do it. And he wasn't going to stop interrogating him until he got that answer.

"You're doing business with a known terrorist and you're going to sit there with a straight face and tell me you don't know what's going on?"

Nayieer leaned in and said, "I grew up in London. I'm marrying an American girl. A Protestant. So, if you're gonna racially profile me you should at least get it right."

Tony hid a smirk. This kid had no idea who he was talking to. "You ever hear of the Finsbury Park Mosque?" he kept his voice low and confident. "It's considered to be one of the main recruitment centers for Islamic terrorists in the West. Our main targets are European Muslims with western educations, passports and the potential to blend into western society. And do you know where that mosque is located? Your hometown- London."

He let this sink in a minute before he went on, "So tell me, Reza, how's my racial profiling going now?"

"I want a lawyer," he said.

"No," Tony said calmly. "Now, again, who authorized this transaction between your company and Syed Ali?"

Michelle took the pardon off the fax machine that had just been reconnected and handed it to Mason. He showed it to Jack, who stared at it and then nodded. Mason spoke a few words to him and then Jack moved off to the interrogation rooms. Michelle stood in front of the video monitors and watched, along with Mason, what Jack would say and do to Nina. She was glad Mason didn't try to give her a task to do. She wanted to see what happened.

Jack stared Nina down and shut the door. She lowered her eyes from his for a moment. He laid the pardon on the table in front of her. Michelle watched as Nina and Jack talked, but was also keeping half an eye on her computer screen behind Mason's back. She was searching for evidence of what happened at that warehouse earlier.

She was startled back to attention when Jack grabbed the table in the interrogation room and threw it aside, startling Nina. Michelle glanced at Mason, who looked worried.

"So stop wasting my time! Give me a name!" Jack screamed at Nina. He leaned on her chair and stared in her eyes, mere inches from her.

"Don't even bother, Jack," Nina whispered. "If you lay a hand on me, you'll be taken off the case."

Jack straightened up and took a seat in the chair opposite her. Michelle could see that he was visibly shaking and wondered how long Mason was going to let him keep this up.

"You're just gonna have to follow my lead," Nina taunted him.

Jack narrowed his eyes, jumped up, pushed Nina towards the wall, still chained to her chair, and grabbed her by the throat. Mason yelled and started running for the room. Michelle kept her eyes glued to the monitors, her heart beating fast. What would Jack do to her?

"You are going to tell me everything I wanna know or I swear to God I will hurt you before I kill you," he threatened. "And no one will stop me. Do you understand me?"

Mason entered the room and yelled, "Jack, let her go now."

Jack dropped her and Nina fell back in her chair, gasping for breath. Mason motioned for him to leave the room. Michelle watched as they both came up the hall. She didn't hear all of the conversation as she went to check her computer screen. She wrinkled her head in dread as she read the report. HazMat was preventing anyone from entering the warehouse and were running tests, which meant there was a hot zone inside. Had Mason been inside the building?

She looked over at him, trying to analyze if he was sick or not. His face was pale and drawn, and he had been coughing a lot. What had he gotten over there? Or was she on the wrong track? After all, everyone looked bad around here right now and with all the dust and debris in the air coughing wasn't a surprise.

Something in her gut told her that he wasn't all right, but she couldn't prove it. She vowed to keep an eye on Mason and see what happens. She turned her attention back to the conversation between Jack and Mason.

"Let's say, for the time being, that you made your point," Mason said reluctantly. "What would your next move be?"

"You need to let me go back in there. Show her that I have the power to do anything I want to her."

Michelle watched as Mason struggled with that. He finally said, "If I let you go back in there, you gotta---"

"George," Jack interrupted. "All I need is five minutes. Just don't let anyone in that room and raise the thermostat ten degrees."

When Mason didn't say anything, Jack persisted, "Will you let me have five minutes?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

Michelle and Mason both watched again as Jack went back into the room. He stood at the doorway and asked Nina, "Who is the man in Visalia?"

Nina didn't answer. Jack grabbed his gun and shot the wall directly beside her twice. Michelle and Mason both jumped at this. Michelle could see Mason sweating, but he kept his promise and didn't stop Jack.

"Who is the man in Visalia!" Jack screamed.

Nina, obviously shaken, said, 'Mamud Faheen. The man in Visalia is Mamud Faheen."

"That's not news. We've got his name," Jack said.

"You don't know where he is. I do!" Nina insisted.

"What's the history of the relationship?"

Nina wasn't holding back now. "He introduced me to Wald."

"So that Wald could buy the schematic for C.T.U. and blow it up as a diversion for a nuclear strike?" Jack put two and two together.

"I didn't know it was part of a larger plan to detonate a nuclear device," Nina whined.

"Then why are you so sure Faheen's involved?"

"Because, before I was arrested, I heard hints that Faheen was involved in something in Los Angeles, something substantial."

Jack walked over and placed the gun against her head. She trembled. "Where is he in Visalia now?"

"I'm not going to give you his location until we get there," Nina said bravely.

Jack cocked the gun. Nina jumped. "If you knew how to get to him, you wouldn't need me anymore and deal I made wouldn't do me much good if I'm dead," she said in a rush, obviously scared to death of Jack.

Jack held the gun there a second longer and then withdrew it. He turned and stared at the monitor. Michelle let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Get me Visalia," Mason said to her.

Michelle hurried to the phone. She got the local office in Visalia and handed the phone to Mason. Jack came out of the room and went over to them, waiting for Mason to get off the phone. Michelle bit her lip and felt the pain in her head get worse. This day kept getting longer and longer.

"Michelle," Laurie called from across the room. "I need you for a minute."

With one last glance at Jack, Michelle hurried over to see what the problem was.

Tony had it with this guy. Either he didn't know anything or he was an excellent liar.

"I didn't transfer that money," he continued to insist.

"You transferred the money into the account!"

"I didn't transfer the money!" he screamed at Tony.

"You'd better tell me who did or I'm taking you in," Tony threatened.

Nayieer shook his head. "Why are you doing this?"

Tony sighed and tried to calm his temper. "Friends of mine who were doing their best to protect the citizens of this country were murdered today. Probably by the same people you're funding. Is that a good enough reason for you?"

Nayieer swallowed and looked away. A second later he looked back at Tony. "I told you before. I don't know anything else."

Tony looked out the window in frustration and saw two Middle Eastern people, a man and woman, gesturing and arguing with each other. A glance at Nayieer showed he knew them.

"Your parents." Tony guessed. Nayieer didn't say anything, so Tony knew he was right. "All right, stand up, Reza."

He took out his handcuffs. "Place your hands behind your head."

For once Reza Nayieer didn't argue with him. As Tony placed the cuffs around his wrist, he said, "It's a shame. It's gonna break their heart. I have to walk you right past them, and they're gonna see who their son really is."

Tony grabbed his hands and started walking towards the door. "Wait!" Nayieer yelled. "I confirmed the transfers, but I didn't make them. I was just covering the records."

Tony didn't say anything, but let him talk. Finally.

"I didn't want him to get into trouble."

"Who?" Tony asked. "Who are you covering for?"

He didn't answer.

"Come on. Who transferred that money into Syed Ali's accounts?"

Nayieer swallowed hard and said, "Bob Warner. Marie's father."

Tony couldn't say he was surprised, but didn't have any evidence to predict it. He unlocked Naiyeer's handcuffs and opened the door, allowing Nayieer to go free. He watched Reza reunite with his family for a moment before walking up to Bob Warner. "Mr. Warner? Could you follow me please, sir?"

Bob Warner moved to follow him, but asked, "What does this have to do with me?"

Tony lightly grabbed his elbow and moved him towards the dining room door. "Just come with me, please, sir."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Michelle looked around in satisfaction. The bullpen was finally set back up and running properly and at full capacity, thanks to the agents sent over from Division and those who came in even though they weren't scheduled to be here. There were sections of the building still taped off as being unstable, but for the time being they were allowed to continue working to stop the nuclear bomb.

Her phone rang and she took an update call from Ed Miller about Jack Bauer and his mission. It wasn't good. She hung up and went to find Mason. He was walking up towards his office.

"Mr. Mason," she called.

"Yeah?" he asked, not stopping.

"I just off the phone with Ed Miller."

"How's it going between Jack and Nina?"

Michelle sighed. "He doesn't know. Jack drugged him and got on the plane without him."

Mason stopped halfway up the stairs and turned towards her. "Please tell me you're kidding."

Michelle shook her head. "Sloane's bringing Ed back now. What do you want me to do?"

"They're on a plane to Visalia. There's nothing anybody can do, except hope that his impulse for revenge doesn't cloud his judgment."

Michelle scoffed. "'Cloud his judgment?' You mean like drugging one of our agents?"

Mason smiled. "What can I say? They guy's a little crazy. That's why I didn't want him here in the first place. But he gets results, and we need some pretty big results here. So---"he turned and walked back to his office.

Michelle sighed and walked back down to her station. She had to get the live feeds ready for whenever Jack met with Faheen. She began working with Ron Shiflett on the project, but soon found the man a little annoying. He was the gossipy type of employee, which she hated.

She heard all about how he was passed up for a promotion, not that she was surprised as she did the majority of the work setting up the feed while he did all the talking.

Mason walked by and Shiflett leaned in closer to her, "He's sick."

She lifted her eyes to him anxiously. How did he know? "What do you mean?"

"He was throwing up pretty badly in the bathroom a little while ago," he whispered, his eyes still on Mason's back. "I've never seen anyone throw up like that before."

Michelle stared after Mason also, feeling her stomach tightened up in fear. The only possible answer to all of this was that he had gotten some type of radiation poisoning, which meant he shouldn't be working right now.

Sighing, Michelle went back to work. There wasn't time to do anything about it now.

About twenty minutes later Mason came down to check on their progress. "How's it looking?" he asked.

"Good," she said. "We've got all the channels open. We're just waiting for the feeds."

"Do we know what dialect of Arabic Faheen speaks?

"Yeah. Nina gave us the information."

A man interrupted them, saying Tony was on the line for Mason. Mason walked away to get the phone and Michelle wondered how he was doing. Despite her heavy workload, she missed looking over and seeing Tony in the office.

Tony waited for George to pick up the line. "Yeah, Tony."

"Naiyeer's starting to talk. He says that Bob Warner's the one that had dealings with Syed Ali. Of course, Warner claims he doesn't know anything about it."

"Bring'em both in. We'll separate'em and turn up the heat," George instructed.

Tony sighed. "Are you giving me the okay to arrest these people?" He didn't think they'd be willing to come with him.

"If they don't come willingly, that's exactly what I'm doing."

"Ah, on what charge?"

"I don't care if it's jaywalking," George replied. "Just bring'em in."

Tony looked around at Naiyeer and the Warner sisters in the next room. "Okay. You got it."

He hung up and went into the room. The older daughter, Kate, demanded, "What's going on with my father?"

Tony walked past her. "Give me a minute, please." He walked up to Richards. "I need you to get Bob Warner. We're going to finish this up at C.T.U., okay?"

"Got it," the other agent said and moved to make it happen.

Tony turned back to the room. "Reza, I'm gonna need you to come with us."

"Come with you where?"

"Back to C.T.U."

"For what?" Kate asked.

Tony put his hands on his hips. He knew she was concerned for her family, but he was getting tired of her. "For further questioning."

"I'm not going with you anywhere," Naiyeer said.

Tony chuckled. This man really had no clue how powerful C.T.U. was. "Look, I'm not arresting anybody- yet- but I will if you force me to. Now, you're coming with us either way. How we do this is entirely up to you."

"Just do what the man says, Reza. Don't argue with him," Bob Warner said, walking out with Richards.

Naiyeer complained, "Bob, I haven't done anything wrong. He can't arrest me."

"Reza. Reza, please. Do this for me," Bob said. "Okay?"

Reza stared at him and finally gave a small nod. His fiancée, Marie, stood up from a chair. "Then I'm coming with you."

"No, we can't take you with us, ma'am," Richards told her.

"Then I'll follow you. You've ruined my wedding day," she said calmly. "I'm not going to let you separate me from my fiancé."

Richards looked towards Tony. Tony, feeling it would be better not to argue and cause more delays, so he nodded. Richards led them out to the car, with Tony following and taking up the rear.

Back at C.T.U. the mission has started with Nina meeting with Faheen. The idea was to try to get Nina to gain Faheen's confidence and then once they had the information they needed, for Jack and his men to go in and arrest him.

Michelle's job was to watch Nina from the camera they put on her and listen in on Nina's feed, which was also being sent electronically to her computer screen for immediate translation. Michelle then related the information back to Jack.

"Now it looks like they're checking her for weapons," she told him.

"What are they saying?" Jack asked.

"She said they thought she was in prison. Nina said she escaped. Now they're taking her into another room. It looks like the one off the east exit."

Michelle watched as Nina entered the room. She could make out a man, but couldn't get a facial reading on him. The room was too dark.

"Who is she taking to?" demanded Jack.

"I can't tell," Michelle admitted. "The target's still in shadow."

"Well, what are they saying?"

Michelle could hear his impatience. "She said, uh- she's explaining who she had to pay to escape from prison."

The man stood up and hugged Nina. The audio feed went dead. Jack said his went dead too.

"I lost mine too," Michelle confirmed.

"Okay, that's it," Jack said. "Everybody, go!"

Michelle still didn't get her feed back and in frustration threw her headset onto the desk.

Tony walked his "guests" into C.T.U. Marie asked if it was safe to be there and Bob Warner recognized the building as the one bombed this morning.

"Yeah," was all Tony said. He noticed how much progress they had made in cleaning and setting the place back up. Michelle was standing at her station, throwing a headset onto her desk. Tony walked over to her.

"Hey,"she said.

Tony smiled. "Got the rooms ready?"

"Yeah, they're still a little messed up, but they're good enough for interrogation."

Tony nodded and looked around, "How are we doing here?" he asked softly.

"Final tally: thirty dead, seventeen wounded, Davidorff and Lindauer are critical," she said, looking away to fight off tears, Tony noticed.

He dreaded the next question, but knew he had to know for certain, "What about Paula?"

Michelle didn't say anything, just shook her head 'no' and looked away. Tony sighed, closing his eyes a second. "All right, could you do me a favor and take'em back to the rooms?"

She nodded.

"Thanks," he said.

"Follow me, please," she said to the Warners and Naiyeer.

Bob Warner hesitated and moved closer to Tony. "Listen, uh, can I talk to you alone?" he asked.

Tony shook his head. "Stay with them. I'll be there in a minute."

Warner walked off to follow Michelle and Mason hurried over to Tony. "Find anything new?"

"No, just what I told you on the phone." He rubbed the side of his face, a habit he had when agitated or nervous. "The two men are contradicting each other. There's definitely a tie to Syed Ali."

"It's looking more and more like Ali's at the center of this thing," commented Mason. "Let's hope all this bring us closer to finding the nuke."

"Just tell me how hard I can push'em."

"As hard as you have to," Mason agreed. "Stick bamboo shoots under their fingernails. Get what they got. Time's running out."

"Okay," Tony said and walked towards the restroom. He needed a minute to get himself together. He had one dozy of a headache, as well as his entire body aching from the explosion and tension. He wasn't surprised to know Paula had died, but he hated it. And thirty people dead? Nineteen seriously injured?

He shook his head, trying to get rid of his thoughts. He didn't have time to grieve about this right now. He would do all his co-workers justice best by finding out who was behind the attack and stopping their larger plan to detonate a nuclear bomb.

Tony grabbed a bottle of water and downed it on his way to Bob Warner's room. He knew part of his headache was from dehydration. He entered the interrogation room and was immediately questioned.

"Why have I been kept waiting here like this?" Bob demanded as soon as he walked in.

"Sit down, please, Mr. Warner."

"I have some information," he said.

Tony just responded with, "Sit down!" he knew how important it was to gain the upper ground and not lose it.

Warner sat down. Tony pressed record on the tape recorder and sat down himself. "What information do you have?"

"I'm not supposed to talk to anybody about this, but under the circumstances," he said and reached for his wallet. "I am a consultant for the C.I.A. There's a contact code for my liaison." He laid a business card on the table. "Call Langley. They'll verify."

Tony stared at him and then picked up the card, asking, "Why didn't you tell me about this back at the house?"

"Oh, come on, Agent Almeida, you know the drill," Bob scoffed. "I'm not supposed to talk to anyone about this without clearance."

"What's your I-3 protocol?" Tony asked, surprised by the turn of events.

"I was approached about five years ago because of my international investment work. They asked me if I'd like to help my country and I said 'okay.'"

Tony nodded. "What do you do?"

"My corporation is used as a—as a conduit to pass information back and forth."

"To whom?"

"I don't know. That is the truth." Bob Warner leaned a little toward the desk. "Now you listen to me, Mr. Almeida. I am not an enemy of this country. I am a patriot. I love my country. I don't know any Syed Ali nor do I know why there's a record of me doing business with him."

"Well, if that's true, then you have nothing to worry about, do you? But there is a connection between your company and Syed Ali." Tony paused for emphasis. "And I'm gonna find out what it is."

Tony stood up. "So in the meantime," he went on, "Sit tight. I'm gonna check this out."

He left the room and went searching for George. He found him on the floor, talking to one of the engineers from the city. Tony walked up to both of them, pulled George aside and told him about his conversation with Bob Warner.

"C.I.A.? Did you check it out?" George asked.

"No, I was just about to call his liaison, but, ah, it looks like he's got a legitimate contact code."

George looked over to where Reza Naiyeer and Marie Warner were waiting. "If that is the case, then it means that Reza's lying to us."

"I don't know," Tony said. "I mean, I pushed Reza pretty hard. I think he's telling the truth."

"Well, we have to push a little harder than usual today," George said. "So dig in and see what you can find out. Let me know."

Michelle was still monitoring Jack's operation. They had managed to apprehend Faheen, and Nina again. They were now on a plane headed back to C.T.U.

Jack was currently on the phone with his daughter Kim and Mason. Michelle was also linked to their conversation, but was ignoring it as she tried to listen to Nina's conversation with Faheen. Nina wasn't taking advantage of Jack's other conversation to speak quietly to Faheen. She listened carefully and watched the translation on the screen.

"Michelle, you still on the line?" Jack suddenly asked.

"Yeah."

"What is Faheen saying now?"

"Nina told him that the U.S. forces have been sent to his village and that they're rounding up his family, his cousins. Faheen didn't believe her; he called her a liar."

Nina spoke some more and both Jack and Michelle waited to see what she said. "She just told Faheen that she has the power to save them."

Nina and Faheen spoke even more quietly and Michelle lost the audio feed on them because it was too low.

"What is she saying now?" Jack asked.

"I don't know. I can't pick it up. The audio's too low."

All of a sudden Jack yelled and Michelle had to pull her earpiece out a little bit.

"No! She just slit his throat!" Jack yelled. "I got her. Get him on the floor! Get him on the floor!... have you got him?... Son of a bitch!"

Michelle heart pummeled. Another lead gone.

"Jack!" she heard Nina yell. "I know where the bomb is. Take the plane to San Deigo. I want a civilian transport waiting for me to take me to Sao Paolo. I'll tell you everything when we're on the ground."

"George, are you getting any of this?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

"This is your call," Jack said.

Michelle looked up at Mason. He was pacing.

"Look, we're running out of time. I don't like getting dicked around."

Jack said, "We can bring her into C.T.U. and try and press her there."

"No, no, it'll take too long," George said. "Take her to San Deigo."

"Fine."

Jack hung up on them.

_Damn it! _Michelle closed her eyes and then opened them determinedly. She had to find out what Nina and Faheen were talking about so low. She wanted to be able to listen to where the bomb was herself without Jack having to jump through hoops with Nina again. So she started reviewing the recordings between Nina and Faheen. She raised the volume and tried to clear out the background noises. It took a while, but she thought she may have gotten something. She backed the tape up.

_There!_ She got something. She typed the name she heard in her search database. _Bingo!_

"Sir," she yelled, grabbing Mason's attention. "I think I may have something in the Faheen recordings."

"What'd it say?"

"A name. Marko Khatami. Listen." She played the recording back for him.

"Did you try cross-referencing it?" Mason asked.

"Yeah, he is connected to Syed Ali," Michelle said excitedly. A new lead.

Mason didn't comment, but took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Michelle watched, confused, as he walked over to where Reza Naiyeer waited. Horrified, she watched him grab Naiyeer and slam him against the wall.

"Who is Marko Khatami? Who is he?" Mason yelled.

"I have no idea," he said, struggling to get Mason off him.

Mason kept yelling at Naiyeer, who kept yelling back. Marie jumped up to try to help her fiancé. Tony came out of nowhere and jumped in, grabbing Mason and pushing him away.

"You're gonna tell me who he is! Where's the bomb?" George screamed as Tony led him away.

"Cool it!" Tony yelled at George. "Cool down."

Mason collapsed in a coughing spell.

Michelle went back to working on the recordings, knowing Tony could handle Mason. She was exhausted, her head killing her, she hadn't eaten in forever, and she felt dirty from the explosion this morning. But she refused to give in; couldn't give in. She wanted to see if she could pick up anything else on those recordings. There had to be something else.

Tony came over a few minutes later, after seeing to Mason. "Were you able to get anything else off that recording of Faheen?"

"It's 99 noise," she said, frustrated. She dropped the earphones and pushed her hand to her head, closing her eyes for a second.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked, concern in his voice.

"Yeah, just running on empty," she admitted, turning back to her computer.

"Well, why don't you get something to eat," suggested Tony.

"No, I'm fine," she said stubbornly. She needed to find something else from that tape.

"Hey, your neck's bleeding here." He touched her neck and she almost jumped from the contact.

She raised a hand to her neck and sighed. "It's somebody else's blood." Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of whose blood it could be, and she hated herself for them. She should be stronger, especially in front of Tony.

"Look, Michelle, why don't you take a few minutes, get cleaned up and change. You'll feel better."

She shook her head and willed the tears to stay away. She didn't want to break down.

"Hey," whispered Tony. "We're gonna survive this day. All right?"

She just stared at him, her heart in her eyes. He stared back at her, his eyes soft and understanding. Michelle had the sudden desire to be held by him, to feel his strong arms around her and to feel safe. They had never embraced before, but Michelle felt safe just being near Tony, let alone being in his arms. She sighed, wishing it would happen, but knowing it never would.

"Come on. Get changed. Come on," he prompted, moving off her desk and making her get up. She conceded and headed for the women's locker room, feeling the tears break and fall down her face.

She closed the door to the locker room and sat on the empty bench. Fortunately no one was in here. She put her hand over her eyes and allowed some more tears to fall. She didn't have the luxury of time to break down completely, but it did help a little to let some on it out.

After a few minutes she dried her tears and opened her locker. She had stocked her locker after that incident last week. She had a clean shirt, makeup, hairbrush, and deodorant—all of which would go a long way to feeling better.

Michelle took ten minutes to clean herself up, stored her stuff back in her locker and headed back to the floor, after making a quick stop at the vending machine. She saw Tony look at her as she walked back to her desk, concern still evident on his face. She smiled at him and lifted the candy bar and can of Red Bull in her hands she had gotten from the vending machine. He rolled his eyes at her choice, but smiled back at her.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Michelle got briefed by Shiflett on what had gone on with Jack while she was away from her desk, which didn't result in much. She thanked him and sat down. Tony and Mason both headed over to her for an update.

She had just opened her mouth to speak when they heard a loud noise, sounding like an explosion. Mason grabbed the phone, dialed Jack's cell, put it on speaker and asked, "Jack, what's happening up there?"

"We're going down. The pilots don't know what's going on. It felt like some kind of explosion. We're losing all kinds of power up here. They think they can make a safe crash landing on a soft riverbed located in Sector J. The coordinates are 34-30-44 north 119-zero-niner-zero-five west. Did you get that?"

"Yep, we got it," Mason confirmed.

They heard Jack say, "Nina, there's a chance we're not gonna make it through this. We need to know the location of the bomb now. Nina, we've given you everything you've asked for. Please!"

Michelle's heart thudded in her chest. If she didn't talk and she perished in the plane crash… The chances of finding the nuke if their only lead perished was slim to none. She glanced up at Tony, who was sitting on the side of her desk listening to the conversation. His eyes were dark and his face grim, staring down at the desk as he listened. Michelle wanted to reach out and touch him, grab his hand or some kind of contact. She never felt the urgency quite this strong before, but she knew she wanted to act on her feelings towards him. Only one time in her life had she approached a guy before, and that had been on a drunken dare. How she would summon the courage she didn't know, but she wanted to tell Tony how she felt before she died.

She died. It was really the first time she had honestly felt hopeless, like she really could die from this threat. _Focus, Michelle, stop thinking that way! While there still is a chance of survival, focus on that._

Her little pep talk helped and she re-focused in on the conversation around her.

"George, we're going down now," Jack was yelling. "We're not gonna make it to the riverbed. The coordinates I have you, they're going to be off…"

A loud pop and then static.

Mason said somberly, "Get the crash site coordinates from A.T.C. and send them to Search and Rescue."

Michelle typed in the coordinates and then called Air Traffic Control. "A.T.C., this is C.T.U. I need the exact coordinates."

It took a few minutes for A.T.C. to get the coordinates and have them send out a rescue team. After she completed that she took her laptop and headed for the conference room to examine the satellite images. Why did the plane go down? As she zoomed in on the area at the time of the explosion she was shocked at what she saw. Who knew they were going to be there? Only C.T.U. and N.S.A. knew Jack and Nina were on that plane, headed for San Diego.

She looked up as Mason walked in.

"These images were taken around the time the pilot reported the explosion," she said. She zoomed in until they could see the light from a missile as it had been ejected.

"God, they were shot down?" Mason asked.

"Yeah, by some kind of ground-to-air missile," Michelle confirmed, examining the images. A drop of blood fell on her screen and she looked up.

Mason's nose was bleeding. He sniffled and took a napkin out of his pocket to wipe it. "Compile a list of anybody that might have had access to their flight plan," Mason instructed.

"Okay."

"I think it's safe to assume whoever it was doesn't want us to find the nuke and if Nina didn't die in the crash they're probably gonna want to finish the job."

"I have Search and Rescue scrambling now," Michelle assured him.

"Make sure they're well-armed," Mason sighed. "And get me their E.T.A. as soon as you have it." He sniffled again and walked away.

Michelle stared after him. Something didn't seem right here.

Tony was looking for George everywhere and finally found him as he was coming out of the conference room. "Hey, George. Richards told me that you had Warner and Naiyeer transferred to room seven."

"That's right."

Tony grunted. "Well, I had them separated for a reason."

"Yeah, because I told you to, and it's not working. So let's put them together and play them off each other, all right?"

"I don't get you, George." Tony blurted out. "One minute you're running away trying to save your own ass. The next minute you're back here trying to act as if you actually give a damn about anybody but yourself."

"Hey, back off."

"No, I'm not gonna back off, George. Not today," Tony said a little more softly. "Now, what's going on?"

George stared at him for a moment and then said quietly, "Remember the warehouse in Panorama City?"

Tony nodded.

"Weapons-grade plutonium, airborne in the firefight?"

"You were exposed?" asked Tony, his heart sinking.

"Yeah. Said I'd be lucky if I make it through to tomorrow."

Tony shook his head and looked down. His hand reached up to rub his forehead in agony. He and George didn't meet eye to eye on many issues, but he would never wish this on him. Another loss of life. "I don't know what to say, George. I'm sorry."

"Me too," George said.

"Does anybody else know about this?"

"Just Jack… and you. Can we keep it that way?"

Tony nodded his agreement. "Do you need anything? Is there something I can do?"

"Just do your job. Let me do mine."

George walked away. Tony stared after him, and then rushed to catch up. They were both needed in the interrogation rooms. They listened from comm as Warner and Naiyeer talked in the other room. They were hoping to find out who was lying. Naiyeer was very upset and tried to see if Warner was lying or not. Warner said as little as possible.

Naiyeer pushed him a little far and they started physically fighting, but the two security guards than came in with Tony and George pulled them apart. Tony felt some hope when Naiyeer said he'd take them to Warner's office and pull up computer records to prove who was involved.

_Why couldn't they have done this two hours ago?_ He thought wearily as he took Naiyeer's arm and steered him outside. He left him with a security guard and then headed back to his desk to organize a unit to take Naiyeer to the Warner office.

He ran into Michelle.

"Hey, where's George?" she asked.

"With Naiyeer. He broke."

Michelle didn't even comment on that, which he was surprised at. "Look, he wanted an E.T.A. on the Search and Rescue. Could you tell him they're about twelve minutes away from the crash site?"

"Okay," he agreed and started walking away.

"Tony," Michelle called.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back around to face her.

"What's going on with George?"

_She knows_, he realized by the look on her face. _How did she know?_ "As far as what?" he stalled.

"He's sick, isn't he? He's got some kind of radiation poisoning, doesn't he?"

Tony scoffed and folded his arms. _Damn she's good!_ "Where'd you get that?"

Michelle stared at him incredulously for a moment and then explained, "Hazmat's all over the warehouse he raided this morning, so it's gotta be hot, right? I was just working with him and his nose started bleeding. And that's after Shipler told me he was throwing up in the bathroom. And it doesn't take a doctor to figure it out." She glanced away for a moment, but then looked him in the eye. "Besides, I can read your face pretty well by now."

Tony looked around to make sure no one was listening, surprised but not surprised by her statement. He could read her face and body language pretty well also. He also couldn't deny George's condition now either. _Sorry George._ "Look, ah, he doesn't want anybody else to know, okay?"

"How bad?" she asked quietly.

"Pretty bad."

"Can he run things in his condition?"

"Yeah, I think so."

She shook her head. "No, that's not good enough. I mean, I feel bad for him, but if he's compromised mentally or physically, we can't take---"

Tony interrupted, "He can do his job, Michelle. He wants to do his job like I've never seen before. He's determined to stop this bomb."

"Yeah, well, so am I. Which is why I think he should step down," Michelle persisted.

Tony rubbed his face again. "Look, I'll keep an eye on him and the second he misses a step, I'll make sure he backs off."

"No, you have enough to do without having to baby-sit him." She argued.

"I'm not baby-sitting him, Michelle." He looked her dead in the eye. "Now, you gotta trust me on this."

He walked away without giving her a chance to comment. While he understood her concerns about his condition, he honestly believed George was more use to them now than before he got sick. Whether it was trying to exact revenge against those who got him exposed in the first place or just the desire to do something right with his life before he died; whatever the reason, George was determined to find the nuke. Tony didn't want to step in unless he had to.

Michelle received the call from Tim Meyers, head of Search and Rescue. "Ms. Dessler, we have confirmation that Jack Bauer and Nina Myers are alive; however, the two F.B.I. agents and the pilot were killed on impact. There is a problem, though."

_There's always a problem. _"What's that?"

"Whoever forced that plane to the ground send a hostile team in after the survivors Bauer took out seven hostiles before we got there."

"Do we know who these hostiles were?" she asked.

"Not yet. My team is working up I.D.s on them," Meyers said.

"Okay," she said. "Thanks for the update."

"Oh, there's one other problem, Ms. Dessler," Meyers said, stopping her from hanging up. "Myers took Bauer hostage sometime during the exchange. She's demanding to speak to the president."

"You've got to be kidding me!" she groaned. "Okay, hold the line. I'll get George Mason for you."

She looked up and saw Tony and Mason escorting Naiyeer out of C.T.U. Michelle approached them, "Mr. Mason, Tony."

"Yeah?" Mason asked.

She explained what was happening and both men groaned like she had. Mason gave Tony instructions about Naiyeer and then indicated Michelle to follow him to his office. He sat in his chair and called the president's office. Michelle paced the room. As soon as he was off, she said, "We have a secured line ready to listen in."

They heard a phone ring. "Ms. Myers, this Mike Novick. I'm the president's chief of staff."

"I asked to speak to the president," Nina said.

"He's not available," Novick said, even though Michelle knew President Palmer was listening to the conversation as well.

"Do you want to stop this nuclear bomb or not?" Nina asked.

"Of course we do."

"Then put the president on."

"I'm authorized to negotiate on his behalf."

"What I want is nonnegotiable."

"What do you want?"

"I'll tell you where the bomb is in exchange for immunity."

Michelle looked at Mason in confusion. Nina Myers had already been granted immunity from the president.

Mike Novick said, "The president's already granted you a total pardon."

Nina answered, "Except this is a crime I haven't committed yet."

"What crime?"

"The murder of Jack Bauer."

_What! Oh my God! _Michelle's eyes raised in horror to Mason's. He looked as shocked as she felt.

"Add that to my pardon, and I'll tell you where the bomb is."

"And if we don't comply?" Novick asked quietly.

"We don't have a choice," Jack spoke up.

"Is that you, Mr. Bauer?" Novick asked.

"Yes. Please tell the president that I do not believe he has any other choice but to accept her deal."

All of a sudden the president's voice filled the office. "Is C.T.U. on a secured line?"

"Yes, this is George Mason. We're on a designed channel. I also have Michelle Dessler and, ah, Tony Almeida."

Tony walked into the room; he had been listening in via a headset. His face was grim.

"Do you have any alternatives to what she's asking?" President Palmer asked. "Any weaknesses that we might be able to exploit?"

"None. She's a survivor, sir," Mason said. "She knows Bauer, and she knows if she doesn't kill him now, he'll hunt her down and find her later."

"So, in your assessment, Nina Myers is out best chance to stop this bomb?" the president asked.

"Sir, she may be our only chance," George said solemnly.

"Ms. Myers, this is President Palmer."

"I'm listening."

"Is Jack Bauer there?"

"Yes, Mr. President, I'm here too." Jack said.

"Ms. Myers, if the information you provide culminates in the successful interception of the nuclear device you will get everything you asked for." There was silence for a minute and then President Palmer continued, "You will be pardoned in advance for the murder of Jack Bauer."

Michelle sucked in a breath. Oh my God! The sacrifices that were happening today to stop this bomb. Paula, George and now Jack! And that's besides the other employees of C.T.U. that had lost their lives earlier today. She closed her eyes briefly in agony.

"I can live with that," Nina said.

"Start talking, Nina," Jack ordered.

"The bomb will be detonated by a man named Syed Ali."

"We know about Ali. We need to know where he is," Mason stated.

"He's at a house in Chatsworth on Starling Court. 18 Starling Court."

Mason looked at Tony, "Contact local law enforcement. Have them set up a perimeter."

"Okay," he said and left the room.

"Coordinate among the relevant agencies," he said to Michelle and she ran off to do his bidding. Finally something concrete to work with!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Michelle looked at her watch for the first time in hours and realized it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. She had been going non-stop since eight this morning when the threat had come in. She closed her eyes and rubbed her face. Man, she was exhausted. And they still hadn't found the bomb or the people behind it. The day was getting longer and longer.

She hoped that President Palmer's plan worked to stop Nina Myers before Jack was killed. She was relieved when Mason informed her that the president had a team in place to take Nina in custody prior to her hurting Jack. She didn't know Jack very well, but from working with him today she was starting to like the guy.

She opened her eyes and stared at her computer screen. So much work still to be done. She reached back and redid her ponytail, glancing up at Mason's office. He was on the phone. She wondered just how bad he really was and if he'd be able to keep up his duties. They couldn't afford a mistake.

She turned her attention over to Tony. He was on the phone also, pacing in front of his desk. Her heart skipped a beat and she turned back to her computer to keep from letting her thoughts go where she couldn't afford them to go.

"It worked!" Mason shouted, jogging down the steps. "Jack's alive and Nina is back in custody!"

Michelle breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, group, let's get back to work!" Mason said. He went back upstairs.

Michelle's phone rang. Their contact from inside the president's group called to confirm that Jack was on his way to the address Nina provided for Syed Ali. They opened up a feed for Michelle.

She jumped up and walked upstairs to inform Mason. "Sir, Jack's on his way to the Syed Ali house. Want me to patch a feed up here?"

Mason was sitting in his chair staring at the wall. "No. I assume you have that under control."

Michelle was taken back by this comment. George Mason always liked to be involved in everything, but she didn't show her reaction. She just nodded and said, "Yeah, we do."

Mason started coughing and looked away from her. Michelle wanted to offer to help, but wasn't sure what to say. Once finished, Mason turned back around, "Was there something else?"

Michelle walked further into his office, wanting to somehow comfort the man. She knew that dying from radiation poisoning would be painful and extreme. She felt tears come to her eyes and only said, "I'm sorry."

Mason appeared surprised by her words and sincerity. He looked away, clearing his throat. He then looked back at her and asked, "So, what are you going to do tomorrow?"

"What?" His change in subject startled her.

"If the bomb doesn't go off. Thought about it?"

"No," she shook her head.

He asked, "Probably come back to work here?"

"Of course," she agreed. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Oh, I don't know. You happy in this job?" Mason smiled. "Believe it or not, I used to want to be a teacher. Long time ago."

Michelle cocked her head to the side and smiled. This was a side of Mason she had never seen before. George Mason usually didn't talk to his employees personally like this.

"You know why I didn't?" Mason asked.

Michelle shook her head.

"'Cause D.O.D. offered me more money. That's how I made my decision. So, I made myself miserable and I made everybody else around me miserable for an extra $5000 a year. That was my price."

Michelle sighed. It was the sad story of so many people in the world; working in a job for the money only. "I'm sorry."

Mason got up from his chair and walked around to her. "You know, Michelle, I'm---" he cleared his throat, "I'm not a big advice-giver, but, under the circumstances, don't wait around for your life to happen to you, hmm? Find something that makes you happy- do it."

He put his arm around her shoulders and started walking towards his door. He leaned in and whispered, "'Cause everything else, it's all just background noise."

He patted her shoulder, smiled and walked back to his desk. Michelle bit her lip, smiled back at him, and walked back downstairs. What an amazing conversation in the midst of all this chaos.

Mason's words struck her right to the core though. _Find something that makes you happy and do it._ Tony. It was just confirmation on her earlier feelings. Today was not the day she would have chosen to tell Tony how she felt, but if they didn't survive, she would want to have told him.

_And if you do survive? He'll know and then how will you work that?_ Michelle swallowed the lump in her throat, staring at her computer screen and trying to work out all the scenarios in her mind. No, she had to do it. Let the cards fall where they lie, but she was going to tell him. The ball would then in his court and she would deal appropriately with however his reaction was.

Looking away from her computer she glanced over at Tony. He was on the phone again. She swallowed hard. How in the world would she ever do it? Her heart raced at the possibility.

Tony switched over phone conversations when they told him Jack was on the other line. "Jack, its Tony. What's up?"

"Tony, I'm still at the house. Look, I just got finished questioning the woman that Syed Ali was torturing for information. Her name is Kate Warner. I want you to run a background check."

Tony frowned. "Did you say Kate Warner?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I had her family picked up this morning," Tony explained. "I was with Kate Warner a few hours ago, Jack."

"What are you talking about? What's the connection?" Jack asked.

"A guy named Reza Naiyeer, her sister's fiancé, had dealings with Syed Ali. Of course, he's denying it. He was saying it was the father, Bob Warner. I had Richards take Naiyeer over to Bob Warner's office to try to hack into his computer. I have Warner here with me now."

Jack didn't say anything. Tony went on, "Jack, will Kate talk to you? 'Cause her family's not cooperating."

"Yeah, I think so," Jack said, "But I got to give her a bit of time. She's been through hell here today. You should see this place."

"Jack, there's one more thing."

"What?"

"The father, Bob Warner, he freelances for the C.I.A."

Jack sighed. "Okay, look, we're gonna have to start from the beginning with this thing. You're gonna have to run everything again, start connecting the dots. These people are involved somehow. You've got to find out how. Get back to me as soon as you got anything."

Tony frowned. Starting over was always hard, but many times it provided fresh and new insight. "All right, you got it," he told Jack and hung up. He walked over to Michelle, an idea forming in his mind. She was always good for sounding out ideas. He sat down beside her desk and waited for her to get off the phone.

Michelle was scared to death. Here was her opportunity to tell Tony how she felt, and she thought she was going to die. _Get a grip, Michelle. You're twenty-eight years old and not a rookie at this. You've asked a guy out before… no big deal. _

_Yeah right._

She stalled for time, forgetting that it was him who approached her and thus probably did for a reason. "That was Barbara at the Warner office," she explained.

"Oh, what'd they find?" he asked.

"Nothing yet. They're still going through the records, but Reza seems to be cooperating." Even as she explained this to Tony, all her thoughts were on what she wanted to do. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

Tony sighed. "This is driving me crazy. It just doesn't make sense that Syed Ali has a connection to this white bread family from Pasadena."

"So you believe Bob Warner?" she asked.

Tony shook his head, "Well there's nothing in his profile or his behavior that suggests that he's involved with terrorists."

Michelle nodded, but played devil's advocate; glad to put off what she was both dreading and anticipating doing. "I agree, but look at the facts. There is a paper trail between Warner investments and Ali. And Kate Warner was abducted for a reason."

"I know," Tony agreed. He sighed again. "All right, look, I want you to put together a list of all the managers and directors of Bob Warner's company. I want to widen the search a notch here."

She nodded her agreement. "That's a good idea." She lowered her head and bit her lip.

"Anything else?" he asked, watching her closely.

The moment was here. "Yeah, um, I was talking to Mason before and---"she couldn't do it.

"And?" Tony prompted.

His gaze was so intense at her. She couldn't believe she was going to do this. "Look, I know this is hardly the time, but I don't know how much time we have, so I just wanted you to know…" _God this was so hard_! "That if you wanted to go out sometime-"

"Look, Michelle," he said quietly.

She knew she sounded like an idiot. "No, look, you don't have to say anything," she went on in a rush. "I just wanted you to know how I felt."

"No, Michelle," he said. She saw him work his jaw for a second and then couldn't believe what he said next. "I feel the same way. I've just been keeping my distance because, ah----"

He kept looking around, not meeting her eyes. She closed hers for a second, knowing what was bothering him. "Because of what happened between you and Nina?" she asked directly.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and licked his lips. "Yeah," he said softly.

Michelle knew she had to clear it up for him. "So, you think I just want you for your information?"

Tony chuckled, licking his lips again. Michelle was actually enjoying this part of it. He seemed as nervous as she was, which was something she hadn't anticipated. Tony Almeida was a confident man and she never thought she would throw him off.

"So, uh—"Tony cleared his throat, "What are we saying here? That, uh, if we save L.A. from a nuclear bomb then you and I can get together for dinner and a movie? Is that it?"

Michelle couldn't keep the grin off her face. Her heart was beating wildly still, but this time for a different reason. His answer hadn't be no and he actually did want to go out with her! She almost chuckled and nodded her agreement.

However, they had to save L.A. first. "I'll get that list," she said.

He smiled. "Yeah." He cleared his throat again, got off the desk and walked away. Michelle watched him for a second and then went to work on the list. She felt that shouting with joy. Tony liked her too and wanted to go out with her also. Wow!

Tony went back to his desk, swallowing hard. That woman was going to be the death of him. What in the world had George said to Michelle that prompted her to ask him out? He felt bad that she had to be the one to do it, but in a way he was glad she did. Although the next move was on him, at least he knew for sure that she wanted to go out with him. He shook his head and grabbed his ringing phone.

"Almeida."

"This is Agent Baker. Bauer wants a list of all the mosques within a 15-mile radius from the Ali house."

Mosques? "Okay. I'll get right back to you," he said.

He sat at his computer and started working up that list for Jack. Kate Warner must have come through with something for him. There was only one within that radius. He called Jack.

"Jack, there's only one mosque within that radius. The address is 1023 Clover Street."

"Okay, we're on our way. I have Kate Warner with me to identify Ali. Have Mason set up a hard perimeter around the mosque and wait for my command."

"Got it," Tony said and hung up. He went to find George and explain the situation. He glanced at Michelle as he headed up the stairs. She was hard at work on her computer. He smiled to himself again and chuckled. She had certainly made life interesting for him, throwing him for a loop. He never dreamed she'd have the guts to ask him out, especially since he couldn't seem to bring himself to do it.

_So, what's the say about you, Almeida?_

Tony shook his head, briefed George and headed back to his desk. He looked over to Michelle again and decided he needed to talk to her once more.

She was on the phone, so he sat down on the desk to wait for her. She finished her conversation and looked at him.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she said, looking a little flustered. "Yeah, F.B.I.—they want a representative at the mosque but they've got their wires crossed."

He nodded and glanced around, "Listen, um, what we were talking about before-" He wanted to be more in control this time and not babble like an idiot, but…

"Yeah, um," she said, looking down and shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I..I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that."

Tony wasn't surprised that she was beating herself up for it. He rubbed his forehead and disagreed with her, "Well, no, actually I'm glad you did."

She looked at him in disbelief. "You are?"

"Yeah. There's been something hanging between us since you started here," he started.

She took a deep breath, but didn't disagree. "Yeah. Yeah, there has."

"I made a decision a while ago to try to keep personal and professional stuff separate," he said. He looked away from her eyes. Man, it was hard. "But now, I---"

Michelle grinned at his nervousness, and he followed suit, biting his lip. He hoped she could understand what he was having a hard time trying to say.

Her phone rang and he sighed in frustration.

She sighed also and picked it up. "Michelle Dessler… okay, I'll tell him." She hung up and looked at him. "There's a problem in room seven."

"Bob Warner?"

"Yeah, he's getting violent."

Tony shot her a look of regret, jumped up at her words and headed to room seven to take care of Warner.

Michelle watched him go, unable to stop the big grin on her face. She went back to working up that list for Tony, but her mind was running in a million directions. Despite Tony's words, would he be able to let go of the past and move forward with something with her? Would he give them a chance? If so, would she be able to make him see they could have a personal and professional life together?

About fifteen minutes later she got the news from L.A.P.D. about the situation at Bob Warner's office. Her eyes widened with the information and she started running to find Tony.

"Tony!" she yelled when she got close enough to him. "Richards and Maccabee were shot. So was Reza Naiyeer. They're all dead."

She stopped to catch her breath as Tony said, "What!"

"Yeah, a janitor found their bodies. I just got off the phone with the L.A.P.D."

Tony looked shocked. "Are there any suspects?"

Michelle shook her head and tried to catch her breath again. "Last time I talked to Maccabee she said that Marie Warner had just gotten there and she wanted to talk to Reza."

"Marie Warner?" Tony asked. "She was there during the shootings?"

"Yes," Michelle said. "Security cameras show that she was the only one to leave the building in the last forty minutes."

Tony looked around in disbelief, taking the file of the phone conversation Michelle had with L.A.P.D., and then grabbed a phone. Michelle stayed where she was, still a little breathless from running. She listened to him talk to Jack, warn him about Marie and the possibility that Kate might be involved. She looked away, feeling herself blush slightly as she caught herself staring at the patch of hair on his chest where his top button was undone.

Tony hung up and looked at Michelle, sighing. "I'd better talk to Bob Warner and see what information I can get about Marie."

"Good idea," Michelle agreed and watched him walk off, unable to stop herself from admiring him from behind. _Back to work, Michelle! Now that you have a definite reason to find the bomb, you'd better focus more on that than Tony's body!_

Tony was having a difficult time believing they had Marie Warner with them all that time and never suspected she was involved. How could they have known? The guards opened the door for him to Bob Warner's room and Bob started talking right away.

"Please, Mr. Almeida, tell me what is going on with my daughter Kate." The look in his eyes was desperate. Tony could tell he loved his daughters.

"I already told you, Mr. Warner," he said. "She's fine."

"Then what is she doing with one of your agents?" he demanded.

Tony sighed and walked over to other chair. He put his hands on it and said, "Reza Naiyeer is dead."

Bob stared at him and then dropped his head. "Oh, God."

"We just found out," Tony went on. "He and two of our agents were shot and killed at your office."

Tony felt sorry for the broken man in front of him. He was obviously upset and shocked at the death of his almost son-in-law. Bob eventually raised his head and asked, "What about Marie? Is she okay?"

Tony sat down.

"Please tell me Marie is okay," Bob said.

"Look, um, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Mr. Warner," began Tony. "But we believe Marie committed the murders."

Bob had lowered his head again at the beginning of Tony's statement, but at the end his head snapped back up in shock. He cleared his throat and shook his head, "It's a trick. I know it's a trick," he slapped his hand on the table. "You're trying to trick me."

Tony handed over the file they had with the evidence of Marie's involvement. Bob looked at it and then opened the cover.

"I'll let you look this over and I'll be back in ten minutes," Tony said. Bob Warner needed time to digest this and he needed to inform George of what was going on.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Mason ordered Michelle to monitor Jack as he and his team invaded the mosque in question. They were going to be working with Kate Warner, as she was the only person who had seen Ali before. Their plan was to capture Ali alive and interrogate him for information.

Michelle nervously tapped her foot as she listened into the live feed and watched Jack's video. If they blew this they would lose all chances of finding that bomb. And that wasn't an option!

The mission was quick and painless, well painless for everyone but Ali. Jack was able to capture him. _Thank God!_ She thought as she listened to the action. Maybe now they could find that bomb! If anyone could break Ali, it would be Jack.

Five minutes later Jack called her. "Michelle, I'm uploading to you a fragment of a piece of paper Ali tried to burn. It must be significant. See what you can find out and get back to me."

"You got it," she promised. Two seconds later the paper fragment was uploaded to her screen and she stared at it. It looked like a series of numbers. She rushed that image over to Randy Murdoch, the temporary computer imaging expert, and had him start work on it immediately.

A little while later Michelle brought Mason over to be briefed by Murdoch about the paper fragment. After they finished, Mason looked at Michelle and asked, "Where's Tony on the satellite feed Jack wants?"

"In progress," Michelle stated, walking away from Murdoch's desk.

"Thank you. Keep it up," Mason said to Murdoch and followed Michelle over to Tony's desk.

Tony was on the phone, a topo map up on his screen. He hung up after a second and Mason asked, "What are you doing?"

"Getting more men out there looking for Jack's daughter," Tony answered.

Michelle knew Mason wasn't happy about this by the look on his face. He looked about ready to explode. "After I specifically told you to divert all resources to the bomb?"

Tony shook his head and said aggressively to Mason, "The satellite feed is happening. I'm not using our resources. I was telling the Sheriff to look for her."

Mason did explode. "Tony, you're a resource! I don't want you to split your attention."

"I promised Jack I would do everything in my power to look for Kim," Tony said. "Just like you did."

Michelle was starting to feel uncomfortable listening to their fight.

"Kim is outside the blast radius," Mason said. "The rest of Los Angeles isn't. Stay focused on the bomb, Tony!"

Mason walked away and shouted, "That goes for everybody!"

Michelle and Tony both watched as Mason stumbled up the stairs to his office. He didn't look good. Tony picked up the phone. "Yeah, this is Tony Almeida at C.T.U. I'm trying to track somebody who went into the Angeles Crest Forest about an hour ago."

Michelle turned her attention to Tony. He was completely disregarding Mason's direct order. Tony met her eyes as he kept talking, willing her to understand. Michelle appreciated his devotion to keeping his promise to Jack, but…

She went back to work. She trusted Tony.

Thirty minutes later Murdoch called Tony and Michelle over to see his results. As they walked over, Tony asked her, "Any word back from the ranger station yet?"

"No, nothing yet." Tony had diverted all calls regarding this situation to Michelle so Mason wouldn't be suspicious of him. "They mounted a search but they can't cover as much ground at night."

They were at Murdoch's station. "Tony, I just sent this to Jack over at the mosque. Check it out."

He pointed to his screen. "This paper has a very regular pulp pattern. So the final step in the process is to take samples from various points so we can create a C.G.I algorithm of what the surface of the paper looked like without any of the writings or other impressions on it."

Tony stared at his screen, following along but amazed at the skill of this guy and with modern technology in general.

"We can subtract that from what we actually got," Murdoch went on. "And what we get is a representation of anything that interrupts that pattern."

He moved his cursor around on the screen and zoomed in on that specific site. "Aha, there it is."

N34 was displayed.

"Okay, this is only a partial. There are a few more markings. There are letters of numbers just to the right of these, but I'm going to need a little more time. They're more obscured."

"Alright," Tony said softly. "Do we have any context whatsoever as to what these numbers and letters refer to?"

"No, they photographed the paper on both sides," Murdoch said. "That's the only area… right here… with any information on it."

Tony straightened up. "All right, good job. Listen, Michelle, I want you to get anyone we can spare on that sequence of letter and numbers. I want you to check VIN numbers, license plates, shipping manifests. Also, get crypto to see if that's some sort of code, all right?"

"I'm on it," she said.

Tony walked back to Murdoch and had him send a copy of what he had come up with to the mosque where Jack was so they could try to see if Ali could tell them what it meant.

Michelle was getting nowhere with that sequence of numbers. It was so vague and they had no direction of where to take it. No matter, she had to keep looking. It was already almost eight o'clock at night, twelve hours since the threat had come in. They only had four hours to find and stop this bomb! She rolled her neck and went back to her computer screen.

Her phone rang two minutes later. "Dessler."

"It's Jack. Get me Mason."

Michelle looked over and yelled at Mason, "It's Jack."

"What do you have?" Mason asked Jack. Michelle had put him on speaker phone as Tony also walked over.

"The bomb's at Norton Airfield. They're putting it on a plane to fly it over the city."

Airfield. Those numbers would be the tail numbers to the plane. Michelle started searching in her computer.

"Okay," she said, "Norton's a medium-sized airfield. They do cargo, private aviation. Every plane's tail number begins with the letter 'N.' That's probably what this refers to. It's still only partial but it narrows down the search."

"Okay," Mason told Jack. "We're on our way."

Michelle clicked off the phone with Jack and listed as Mason gave instructions. "All right. We're moving units Bravo, Echo, and Lima to Norton Airfield, where we have reason to believe the bomb is located. I'm going to call F.A.A. and have them ground all flights in or out of Norton. In the event that they do get the plane in the air, we want to have two F-16's at the ready to intercept. We'll get some bomb units and some SWAT teams over there as well. So let's move everybody. Remember, the "no unnecessary contact" rule remains in place."

Michelle got on the phone to have those F-16's ready. Her heart was racing. They were going to find this!

"Tony, we got a little problem."

"What's up?" Tony asked George.

"Brad Hammond from Division's on his way over here. They want to shut us down and run everything from over there."

Tony looked away and then back to George. Damn Division always wanting to cause trouble. "But we're up and running now."

George sighed. "Well, not 100. We're still having intermittent packet loss. I think Division's a little uncomfortable with the idea of us running an operation like this out of a compromised location."

"We just don't have the time to give these idiots from Division the grand tour," Tony argued.

"I know," George agreed.

"We're closing in on this."

"They're on their way, so we've just gotta deal with it." George gave him a look of defeat and walked away.

Tony nodded and went to see how Murdoch was going with getting the rest of the tail number. The guy was leaning over three different monitors, trying to figure it out.

"Why's it taking so long to get this tail number?" Tony asked, a little annoyed now because of the Division issue. If they could get that tail number and prove they were producing results, maybe Hammond and Division would leave them alone.

"There's barely anything here, man, but there's something," Murdoch said.

"We need this, Randy, all right? Come on," Tony said.

"I'm on it."

Tony walked away, only to have Michelle come up and walk beside him. "Mason tell you they're sending someone from Division to do an evaluation?"

"Yeah."

"Why are they doing this now? We're clearly operational. We're getting results. Why don't they just leave us alone?" she asked.

Tony stopped and said, "Look, they will. This is just Chappelle's way of doing stuff over there."

"What about George?"

"Well, when they get a look at the shape he's in, they're probably gonna yank him. I'm keeping an eye on him, all right? Just get everyone to Norton."

He watched her nod and move on.

When Brad Hammond from Division showed up, both he and Michelle had to give him the grand tour to prove everything was working. Michelle had never met him before but she could tell he was a prick.

"The same data is mirrored at Division," he was saying and she turned her attention back to him. "I don't see why we need to risk running these operations from a jerry-rigged system."

"You can't run a mission on data alone, Mr. Hammond," Michelle put in. "My team has more experience implementing and monitoring than anyone at Division."

"I don't think that's true, but the point is moot," Hammond said. "Start to shift some of your people over to our offices."

Michelle's heart sank. She looked up at Tony, but there was nothing he could do either.

George Mason came on the scene at just that moment and said, "And waste an hour and a half transporting and setup with a nuclear bomb ticking away?"

Hammond smirked. "I was beginning to wonder if this place was running without a director."

"Hey, Brad, good to see you." Mason held out his hand.

"George." Hammond squeezed his hand so tightly Michelle knew it had to hurt Mason, but to his credit he didn't show any emotion. "I heard you're not feeling well."

"I imagine you heard all kinds of things today, Brad," Mason said, "But I can assure you, a bad day for me is still better than a good day for anybody on your side of the freeway."

"Is that right?"

Michelle bit her lip to keep from smiling. She saw Tony look away and rub his face; he was amused too.

George continued, "We're not shutting down. We've got way too many active protocols in play here. That's the bottom line."

Hammond put his hands on his hips. "I heard your systems failed their parity checks this morning."

"That was this morning. Everything's fine now."

_That's it George! Give'em hell!_ She cheered him on mentally.

"Hey, Eileen," Mason looked over at a tech, "Wanna show Brad how our systems are exceeding all of their time horizons?"

"Yes sir," she said.

Mason turned back to Hammond. "Think you can do that at Division? Don't believe everything you hear, Brad. Thank you." Mason walked away and Hammond didn't say a word.

"Good job, George!" Michelle whispered, smirked and walked back to her desk.

She heard a few minutes later that Hammond backed down and said they could stay operational until this crisis was over.

She breathed a sigh of relief and went back to work.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Tony was escorting Brad Hammond out of C.T.U. when he heard a commotion going on over at the stations. He hurriedly said good-bye and went over to see what was going on.

Murdoch must have figured out the other numbers. "It's either N34G5 or its N34G6."

Tony arrived at the desk just as George accepted the screen image from Murdoch and looked over to Michelle's desk. "Michelle?" he asked.

"I'm on it," she called, typing the tail numbers into the computer. "N34G5 is registered in California and it's a Norton Airport, hanger MD7."

George nodded and turned back to Tony, "Get Bauer," he said.

Tony picked up the phone, dialed Jack and handed it over to George. He waited to see what the update was and what needed to be done.

Thirty minutes later Michelle listened in as George Mason updated the team on the situation over at the airport. Apparently a military special ops Delta team, called Coral Snakes, had been monitoring and protecting the bomb all day. Unfortunately, that team was found dead on arrival by Jack and his men. However, they did find out that one member of the team was the killer of the rest of the team and he escaped. They were trying to identify all the bodies over there to find out who was missing, but it was difficult to get information on a Delta team.

As far as the bomb went, they did manage to find the plane, but the bomb on it was a decoy. The real bomb was still at large.

"Michelle, I need you to get reverse-time satellite imaging of the plane and try to figure out its original location," Mason said. "And start working on finding who that seventh commando is."

"I'm on it," Michelle stated and turned around. She stopped dead in her tracks. _What the hell is she doing here? _

Carrie Turner. Her nemesis, her most hated person in her personal world right now. She worked over at Division, so why was she here? _Oh please don't be a replacement from Division. I can't handle you the rest of the night!_

George Mason walked over to her. Michelle kept walking back to her station, but she could overhear their conversation. Carrie hadn't seen her yet.

"You must be the new systems op Division sent," Mason said, holding out his hand.

She nodded. "Carrie Turner. You must be George Mason." She reached out to shake his hand, but quickly withdrew it when he started coughing.

"Excuse me," Mason said.

"You look worse than I expected," Carrie said bluntly.

Mason just stared at her and said, "Something I can help you with?"

"No, I'm pretty much set. I've been following everything from Division," Carrie said.

"I'll be taking over Paula's responsibilities, so if there's anything you need the server to do, I'll make it happen."

"Good. The situation reports have changed in the past hour so we have to refresh all the computer models."

"Not a problem," Paula said. "Just make sure that everyone keeps their hands off my system."

"Okay," Mason smiled.

"Uh, Mr. Mason, who do I report to directly?"

"You report to me," he said.

She cocked her head and said, again bluntly, "No offense, Mr. Mason, but rumor has it you're not gonna be around much longer. So, who do I report to?"

Michelle could have killed her for talking like that to Mason. An honest question, yeah, but it could have waited until Mason decided to leave for good.

"I finally get someone around here who I like," Mason actually smiled, obviously not offended. "And I'm not going to be around to enjoy it. To Tony Almeida and Michelle Des---" he started coughing again.

"Did you say Michelle Dessler?"

Michelle's heart raced. Obviously Carrie didn't know she was here. Michelle smirked. This could be fun… Carrie was going to have to report to her and the shoe was on the other foot now.

"Yes, I did," Mason answered her, still coughing. "Why?"

"Uh, we worked together at District. I was her boss then."

"And you're telling me this why?"

Carrie put her hand on her hip. "It'll be fine. It's not important."

Michelle moved on to her computer; she couldn't keep spying on Carrie. She'd deal with her later, even though she partially dreaded having to work with her again and partially anticipated being her boss for, hopefully, a short period of time. She called Harold in I.T. and had them pull up that reverse-time satellite imaging for Mason. She had to get working on finding that seventh commando.

She sat down at starting pulling up information logs from Fort Benning, Georgia where the Delta team was from. It was hard going around their firewalls and protected screens, but she would do it. It took all of ten minutes to crack into the system and get a list of men assigned to Delta unit Coral Snakes. She had just gotten the list from the field of the dead men, so she flipped through the profiles until she found the one who wasn't dead at the airport.

"Tony," Michelle called over to him. "I think I have something."

He walked over to her station and looked down at her computer. The profile of a Jonathon Wallace was on the screen. "So we think this is our man, huh?"

"Yeah," she said, proud that she had gotten the information so quickly.

"The seventh commando," Tony said.

"Captain Jonathon Wallace. Led a sniper unit in the Gulf War, led an assassination detail in Malaysia."

Tony looked down at her. "Have you gotten this to Jack yet?"

"I'm on it right now," she smiled.

"Start up a shared volume with O.C. on this guy, huh?"

She nodded and started typing away.

"Hello, Michelle."

Michelle cringed inwardly. Carrie stood in front of her desk. "Carrie, what are you doing here?" she asked, playing dumb.

"Division sent me over to replace Paula."

"All right, uh—Do you need any help getting into the locked volumes on the network?"

"No, actually, I'm all up and running," she said smugly.

Michelle wished she could wipe that smug look right off her face. _Focus Michelle. No matter how much of a bitch she is you still need to be professional and work with her._

"You look great, by the way," Carrie went on.

_All right- that's it!_ "Stop it, Carrie."

"Stop what?"

Michelle turned around and stared at her. "You're not my boss today, all right? If you're here to replace Paula, then technically you work for me."

Carrie smiled. "Fine. Give me an order."

Michelle turned her head and bit her lip. "There's a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. We've been charged with finding it so why don't you start by analyzing these?" she picked up a stack of folders that needed to be gone through and placed them, rather forcibly, in her hands.

Carrie stared at her and then winked, saying "Fine."

Michelle felt the anger burn inside her. _Of all people, why her?_

Tony watched their conversation from his desk and wondered what was going on. He didn't know Carrie at all, hadn't been introduced to her yet, but it seemed like Michelle had a problem with her. He knew that Michelle had told him earlier that she could read his face by now; well, the fact of the matter is that he could read hers pretty well by now too. And she wasn't happy with Carrie.

He sighed and let it go. Michelle was a professional and he was sure she'd handle whatever personal differences she had with Carrie just fine.

He looked up as Mason walked over to him. He was shocked at how terrible he looked since the last time he saw him, only a matter of minutes really.

"Tony, got a second?" he asked.

"Sure. What is it?"

"I think it's time I stepped down," George said. "I'm not feeling so hot here."

Tony nodded, expecting this, but sad to hear it. That meant George's demise was imminent. "Is there anything I can do?"

George looked around. "Actually, yeah. Tomorrow, when this is all over, say good-bye to everybody for me and, ah, let them know what an honor it was working with them, and what a great job I think they all did, everybody?"

Tony swallowed hard. "Sure."

"This morning, when I told you I couldn't wait to get out of here, I don't feel that way anymore." George's eyes were filled with unshed tears and Tony's heart ached for him. Life wasn't fair.

George handed him his access card. "Here you go."

"What's this?" Tony asked.

"Access codes to C.T.U. and Division."

"I can't take this, George," Tony said after a moment of shock. "Only the C.T.U. director's allowed that kind of access."

Then George said something Tony didn't think he'd hear for years. "You're the new C.T.U. director, Tony."

"You can't promote me, George," Tony said, shaking his head. "Chappelle's the only one who can do that."

"I just talked to Chappelle. You're the new guy."

Tony couldn't believe it. This wasn't how he expected to be promoted. He hung his head for a second and then back up to look at George. "Listen, George, um—I'm sorry, I---"

"Hey, don't," George said, sparing him. He leaned in close and said, "Good luck."

George turned around and walked out of C.T.U. for the final time. Tony held the access card and stared at him until he was gone. A stray tear fell from his eye, but Tony barely noticed it. He could only imagine the pain George must be going through, physically and emotionally. Tony's chest tightened and he shifted his gaze to try to re-focus, but met Michelle's eyes instead. The sad look on her face informed him that she had seen the exchange between him and George.

He walked over to her. "Gather everyone together for me, okay?"

She nodded. He turned and walked upstairs to George's office. Well, his office, he guessed. He stared at it for a second and then shook his head. _Get a grip, Almeida. You can mourn George when this is all over, but for now there's still a nuclear bomb out there. And you're the guy in charge._

He sat at the desk and thought over his game plan, feeling overwhelmed by it. Finally he called Michelle. "Listen, I'm gonna be operating from up here, so I'm going to need my access codes piped into the system."

"Got it," she said. "Everyone's ready for you down here."

He rolled up his sleeves. "Good, thanks."

He walked downstairs to see everyone had gathered at the bottom like they always had done for George. He sighed and said, "In case you haven't heard, George Mason was exposed to a lethal dose of plutonium this morning. I'm afraid he hasn't got much time. He just left the office, and he won't be coming back, which means that I'll be in charge until further notice."

Tony looked around at everyone and went on, "Now, on a normal day, we'd be mourning George, just like we would've mourned Ivers and Clark… and Paula…and the rest of our coworkers who were killed here today. Unfortunately, we're going to have to hold our thoughts of them until we can get through this present crisis. So, let's get back to work."

He nodded at everyone and started back up the stairs to George's, ah, his office. Michelle stopped him, "Tony."

He turned around. "It was a nice thing you just did."

Tony nodded, appreciating it but unable to deal with it right now. "What's going on at the airfield?"

"Jack's still interrogating Marie Warner. So far, we don't have anything new."

"All right. Keep me posted, huh?"

"Sure."

Michelle worked back to her desk and called to check in with Jack. Hopefully he was getting somewhere on that bomb. He wasn't answering his cell, but she caught his message as it came through com.

"This is Jack Bauer. We found the bomb. I want you to initiate a level one local evac now."

She ran upstairs. "Tony, Jack found the bomb!"

A big smile broke out on his face, the first she had seen in a long time. "Yes! Have they got it defused?"

She shook her head. "No, but N.E.S.T. is onsite and working on it."

They both stared longingly at each other and Michelle willed herself to go give him a hug, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She bit her lip and walked to the door. "I'll keep you posted."

He stared after her, his eyes dark and unreadable. "Yeah, thanks."

Michelle walked back downstairs and to her desk, her legs practically shaking. Why did being near Tony do that to her? She groaned and went back to her computer screen. There was still a lot of work to do. Syed Ali was being brought into C.T.U. for questioning as they had to find out who he was working for. Someone was going to pay for trying to bomb America.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Tony's joy lasted about ten minutes until Michelle called him over to her desk with an update.

"There's a problem at the airport. The trigger on the bomb is tamper proof," Michelle whispered. "If the trigger is dismantled or disconnected from the main casing, it'll detonate."

Tony face fell. "There is no way to disarm this bomb?" he whispered back, not wanting to start a panic.

"They're going to have to fly the bomb out of the area and hopefully make it to the desert before it detonates. There is about forty-five minutes before it will detonate."

Tony sighed. "Okay, thanks."

He didn't get very far before Carrie stopped him, "Hey, Tony, they are bringing over the personal effects from Syed Ali's house."

He nodded even as he saw the security guards escort in a man with a briefcase. He headed over.

One of the men with them stuck out his hand, "Agent Graves."

Tony shook it. "Tony Almeida. We've been expecting you."

"They told you what's in the case?"

Tony nodded, "Personal effects from Syed Ali's safe house?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Who's he?" Tony nodded towards the man with the briefcase.

"His name is Yusuf Auda. His government has assigned him as an intelligence liaison. They're the ones that gave us the information that got us into the safe house," Agent Graves explained. "We couldn't very well refuse to bring him along."

"Do you trust him?" Tony asked softly.

"Right now," Agent Graves said seriously, "I don't trust anyone."

Tony couldn't argue with that. "Yeah. Look, uh, take the case and bring it into that conference room around the corner here." Tony pointed to where he meant.

"Okay," Agent Graves said and moved on.

"Thank you." Tony turned to Yusuf Auda. "Mr. Auda? Tony Almeida, Director of C.T.U. Welcome."

"Thank you," he said, shaking Tony's hand.

"You must've had some trip, huh? What were you, 10,000 miles away this morning?"

He smiled and said, "I'm ready to get back to work. Uh, I understand there's still some analysis needs to be done on things seized from Syed Ali's apartment."

Tony nodded, but he was determined to keep this guy far away from those things. He agreed with Agent Graves: he didn't trust this guy yet. "Yeah, look, uh, our lab needs to do some preliminary work first. Why don't you sit down here? I'll have somebody get you some coffee." Tony smiled and started to walk away, even as Auda tried to follow him. "I'll be with you in a moment, okay? Thank you."

Tony walked away and headed over to Michelle's desk. "I checked with the lab," she said. "They're ready for decryption."

"Good," he said. He leaned down and said softly, "Look, um, I'm going to need somebody to do a little hand-holding here. That gentleman's name over there is Yusuf Auda. Officially, he's a visiting intelligence agent entitled to full cooperation. Unofficially, I don't want him to see anything he doesn't need to see, hmm?"

Michelle nodded.

"So make sure anybody you assign to this understand that," he continued.

"Sure," she said.

"Okay." He walked away and headed for the conference room to see what contents they received from Ali's house.

He closed the door tight behind him. "So what do we got?"

"Most of it's pretty innocuous, but there is one thing," Agent Graves said, shifting through the case. He picked up an audio recording tape and held it out for Tony. "This was well-concealed. We almost didn't find it. Obviously, it was of great important to Syed Ali. We tried to read it, but it's encrypted with a z-cube function. We don't have that kind of technology in the field."

Tony took the tape. "Okay, I'll get our people on it right away, see what they can find." He placed the tape in an empty accordion file to disguise it. "Thanks."

Tony headed over to Michelle's desk again, but was stopped by a phone call from Jack. "Almeida."

"Tony, its Jack. Have you found Kim yet?"

"No, I haven't. We're still working on it."

"I'm running out of time. I need to speak to her now."

"I understand how you feel Jack, but we really got our hands full here," Tony said. "If you could just wait until the plane takes off—"

"Tony, I'm flying it."

Tony stopped dead in his tracks. "What!"

"I'd like to speak with my daughter while I've still got some time."

"Jack, there's got to be somebody else that can fly that plane," Tony argued. "Somebody who doesn't have a family, or at least doesn't have kids. Come'on!"

"Look, I didn't have time to take a census and I can't order anyone else to do this," Jack said mournfully. "Please, Tony, you've got to find her."

Tony sighed. They had been trying for hours to find Kim and now he was supposed to do it in the next five minutes? But how could he not find her? Jack and Kim needed time to say goodbye. "All right. I'll find her," he promised.

"Tony, one other thing---"

"Yeah?"

"In my apartment, there's a safe. Inside is my will and a letter I wrote to Kim in case something ever happened to me."

"I'll make sure she gets it, Jack." How could he have to say good-bye to another friend and co-worker, even if this was his first day back in a long time?

"Thanks," Jack said.

"I'll get back to you." Tony hung up and swallowed hard. This day was taking everything he had.

Amazingly Kim called them within five minutes. _Thank you God!_ Tony whispered to the ceiling. He picked up the phone, but didn't even wait to hear where she was or what her story was. He put her on hold and got patched through to Jack's plane.

"Jack, can you hear me?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I can hear you, Tony."

"We found Kim. She's on the other line."

"Thank you, Tony. Good work. Have you told her anything?"

"No, ah, I didn't know if you'd want me to," Tony admitted.

"Okay," Jack said. "Put her through, will you?"

"All right," Tony said and patched through the call. He wished he didn't have to listen in, but in order to keep the call going he did. What he heard broke his heart. Tony felt tears in his eyes and he willed them to go away. He couldn't focus on the report in front of him, no matter how hard he tried to tune out Jack and Kim.

_Hell, you'd have to be made of stone not to get emotional over this, _he told himself as he quickly wiped a tear away and tried again to read the report.

Tony disconnected the line only after he made sure they were both off. Not less than five minutes later Michelle walked into his office, a report in her hand.

She started to talk, but stopped short when she saw him. She could tell something was wrong, he knew.

"You okay?" she asked.

He sighed and sniffed, strangely not embarrassed at being caught so emotional. "We found Kim."

"Did Jack get a chance to say good-bye?" she asked softly.

He nodded. "Yeah." He looked at the report in her hands. "So what'd you find?"

"We decrypted the hard drive from Syed Ali's apartment. It's a recording of a conversation that took place in Cypress about four months ago."

"Conversation between who?" he asked, glad to have something concrete to focus on.

"Syed Ali and high-ranking government officials from these three countries," she pointed out the countries on the report.

He looked at the names of three Middle Eastern countries and then back to her. She was serious. "So what we're saying is that these three countries not only knew about the bomb but they bought it and supplied it to Syed Ali?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "That's what it looks like."

"How sure are we about this translation?" he asked.

"We were rushed," she admitted. "It needs to be refined but the substance of it is accurate."

Tony sighed, flipping through the report again. The implications of this were staggering. "All right, look, we're going to need voiceprint authentication on all four of these men as soon as possible."

"I've already got people working on it," Michelle said.

"Get Division involved as well," he said and picked up the phone. Michelle left his office.

"Northwest Regional."

"Hi, this is Tony Almeida at C.T.U. I need to speak to the president about today's terrorist attacks. It's urgent."

"I'll transfer you."

Tony watched out his office windows as Michelle and Carrie argued about something again. He had a bad feeling in his gut about them.

The president came on and Tony focused back on the task at hand.

Ten minutes later Tony got another call from Jack.

"Tony, this is Jack. I need you to get a helicopter in the air immediately. We got a change of plans up here. I'm bailing out. George is taking the plane down."

Tony head swam. "What the hell's George doing there?"

"He stowed away. Listen, Tony, I can explain it in more detail later, but right now I need you to get that chopper to these coordinates immediately."

Tony wrote the information down and ran down to Michelle's desk. "Michelle, I want you to send a chopper to trail Jack's plane. Mason got on board- don't ask me how- but he's gonna take the plane the rest of the way—Jack's going to bail out. We need that chopper to pick him up."

"But—how---"she started to ask, but he interrupted her.

"I'll explain later." He turned and went back upstairs.

Fifteen minutes later the George Mason took the plane down. They all watched the explosion on the screen at C.T.U. No one said a word as they watched.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Tony took the moment while everyone was assembled to make sure they understood that just because the bomb threat was over didn't mean the crisis was.

"Everyone gather around, please. This will just take a minute. George Mason asked me in advance to thank you all for your dedication. And thanks to his sacrifice and your hard work, millions of live were saved, and that's a result that we can be proud of." Tony looked around at everyone. So many people were working who were injured or at least were thoroughly exhausted. He was proud of them. "Now to say that this has been a long day would be a major understatement. And I know you're all tired, but this isn't over yet. We've still got a lot of work to do. Now, the Cyprus recording is our primary focus, and that's critical to any military response that Washington's considering. So let's get back at it, huh?"

Michelle was nervous about interrogating Ali. She had done interrogation before, but not very often and definitely not on something this important. She was even more nervous knowing that Tony trusted her on this.

Syed Ali looked like a broken man. He was beaten and bloodied from his encounter with Jack, but he also looked like he had lost everything. Michelle remembered that Ali believed that Jack had killed his son. She knew no one could reveal the truth to him until he had given them all the information they needed.

Michelle pushed play on the tape recorder and played part of the recording to Ali. "_You will receive the funds and the bomb through the channels we discussed. We will change the world."_

Michelle stopped the tape and said, "This tape was recovered from the hard drive in your apartment. It's a record of a meeting you had with these three men." She laid photographs of the men on the table in front of Ali. "On April 5th, in Cyprus. They're all high-ranking officials from three Arab countries, one of them your own. The tape proves that you conspired with these men to detonate a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil."

Ali stared at her, but didn't say a word. Michelle folded her arms across her chest and went on, "Were there others present who didn't speak?"

Ali still didn't say a word. Michelle leaned down on the table. "Whatever you don't tell me, you'll tell the interrogators in Guantanamo, under much less comfortable circumstances. So I'll ask you one more time."

"Tell me what you want me to say," Ali responded, sounding even wearier than he looked. "And I will say it."

"I want the truth," she said.

"What does the truth matter when you have this recording?"

Michelle stared at him, not even blinking. "Explain what that means."

"It means I never spoke to any of these men."

"You're denying that the meeting took place?" asked Michelle.

Ali nodded. "There was never a meeting. I was not even in Cyprus in April."

Michelle stood up straight again and folded her arms. "Where were you?"

"Berlin."

_It's no surprise he's denying it,_ she thought, but part of her wanted to believe him. She gathered her papers up and said sharply, "They'll find out the truth in Guantanamo."

She turned to go but stopped when Ali said, "Why would I lie about this when I told you the truth about the bomb?"

She turned around slowly. "To protect your country."

He sighed. "The bomb was a Second Wave operation only. I have never met those men."

Michelle sighed and bit her lip. All she could do was report what he said to Tony and leave it in his hands. She knew she shouldn't believe him, but part of her did. He seemed thoroughly broken and unable to even try to lie anymore. If there was a chance the recording was fake, shouldn't they do everything in their power to confirm that? War with the Middle East hinged on this recording.

She turned and looked at him one more time before heading out the door. What if he was right?

Tony closed the door to the conference room and started talking immediately. "Agent Gibson, I take it your team has finished the analysis of the Cyprus recording?"

"Yes sir."

"Could you walk us through it, please?" he asked, sitting down.

"We began by obtaining voice samples for Syed Ali and the three government officials on the recording. We deconstructed the sound waves and isolated unique qualities that are the vocal equivalent of a fingerprint."

Tony glanced through the written notes as he listened.

Gibson went on, "Our studies indicate that the voices on the Cyprus audio are in fact those of Syed Ali and the three government ministers in question."

"Now, this recording could have been created by putting pieces of different conversations together, right?" Tony asked, wanting to be thorough.

"Yes, but reconstruction always leaves artifacts, mismatched acoustical signatures or altered cadences. We found no such artifacts."

"Is there any chance that this recording could have been doctored in a way that we couldn't detect?"

"Of course, anything's theoretically possible, but I can say with absolute certainty that the finest experts using the very best equipment available could not find any evidence that this recording is anything but a genuine and accurate record of an actual conversation."

"A conversation in which these four men sat in the same room and conspired to detonate a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil?"

"Yes, sir."

A door opened behind Tony and he watched Michelle walk in and sit down beside him. He looked at her expectantly.

"I just finished talking with Ali. He claims that he's never even spoken to any of the men in the recording. He says it's a complete fabrication and that he was in Berlin on April 5th, not Cyprus."

Tony sighed, not surprised by his claims.

He was, though, surprised by Michelle's next words. "He could be telling the truth."

"He still thinks we killed one of his sons," Tony pointed out. "He's trying to save the rest of his family by denying that his country is one of the three behind the nuke."

"I agree he has a clear motive to lie," Michelle said. "But if there's any possibility that he's telling the truth, I think we need to investigate."

Carrie spoke up, "But he's not. I mean, it's obvious."

"It's not obvious to me," Michelle said, her voice cold like steel.

"In a contest between the physical evidence and the word of an attempted mass murderer," Carrie said. "It's clear which wins."

With Carrie on one side of him and Michelle on the other, Tony felt like he was in the middle of a cat fight. One he had to stop. "Carrie."

She didn't stop, "And, no offense, Michelle, but your experience as an interrogator is limited."

Tony stepped in, getting angry. There was no call for making this a personal fight. "All right, Carrie, that's enough!"

"I sat three feet away from the man," Michelle said to Carrie, her eyes shooting daggers. "And I believe that he is a broken man without the strength or resolve to lie."

"All right, look, I'm gonna tell the president what Ali said when I call him to pass on Agent Gibson's findings," Tony said, packing up his papers and folders. "Now, if we don't have anything else here, I think we're finished, right? Thank you."

He walked out to make a phone call to the president, but he knew that he had to speak to Michelle about her relationship with Carrie. These bitch fights had to stop.

Michelle was still fuming about the confrontation with Carrie in the conference room. She called her all sorts of names in her head and couldn't even stand to look over at her. She knew she shouldn't take any of this personally, but Carrie had meant it as a personal attack. How else---

"Chappelle wants to see your report before you send it to the Pentagon."

Man, she didn't even hear him walk up. For once she didn't even want to see or talk to him. She didn't blame him for what happened between her and Carrie, but she knew he didn't believe that Ali could be telling the truth. He never said it, but she knew him enough by now to know.

"I'm ordering more data points. I need another fifteen minutes." She knew she sounded like a bitch, but she couldn't help it. She was so angry.

"Fine," Tony said. "You all right?"

"Yeah," she said, still not looking at him. "I'm just a little tired, like everyone else."

"No, I mean about before."

Leave it to Tony to get to the heart of the matter. She finally turned her head from her computer screen to look at him.

"I know it got tense between you and Carrie---"he began.

"I can handle Carrie," she said, cutting him off.

"Look, the truth is, you don't have the training or the experience to read a guy like Ali," Tony said quietly. "Now, that's my fault. I shouldn't have put you in that position."

_Go to hell, Tony_ she wanted to say, feeling instantly angry at him. _Why did you put me in that position then if you're not going to trust my opinion?_ "Doesn't mean we shouldn't press him harder."

"They'll take care of that at Guantanamo."

"It may be too late."

"We're sending him now. I'm heading over right now to make sure the handoff goes as planned," Tony explained, his eyes telling her to trust him.

In this case she didn't, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"Okay," she said and walked away from him. First Carrie and then Tony. She knew she didn't have the experience or training, like he said, but he could listen to her input and take it seriously. He always had before. She felt tears of anger, frustration and betrayal burn in her eyes but she refused to let them spill.

Tony knew Michelle was angry with him, but he couldn't help that right now. When this was all over with he'd sit down and make sure they talked about it. However, right now he had to make sure the exchange with Ali went smoothly.

Like that could ever happen.

Jack Bauer walked into C.T.U. at the same moment they were walking Ali out. Ali started yelling in Arabic at Jack. Jack stared at him but kept walking towards Tony.

"Hey Jack, glad you're okay," Tony said.

"Thanks," Jack said. "Look, I'm gonna get out of your way. I just want to know how I can get a hold of Kim."

"Yeah, okay. I spoke to a Sergeant Griggs of the San Jose Sheriff's Department. Now, he sent a man over to you sister-in-law's to meet Kim. He was going to call when she got there, but that's his number in case you want to follow up." Tony handed him the card he wrote the man's name and number down on.

"Okay, thanks. George told me he put you in charge."

Tony smiled and rubbed the side of his face. "Yeah. How about that, huh? Trial by fire, right?"

Jack smiled. "You're gonna do great."

Tony shook his outstretched hand, pleased by Jack's words. "Look, uh… we'll catch up later, all right?"

"Yeah." Jack smiled and walked down towards the bullpen.

Tony went back outside to check on Ali.

Michelle whirled in surprise as she heard Jack's voice. He was at one of the desks behind her, talking on the phone. Michelle bit her lip and looked up at Tony's office. He wasn't there.

Her heart started to race. Should she defy Tony and tell Jack about her suspicions that Ali was telling the truth? It could mean big trouble for her, professionally and personally. But if he was telling the truth the president could be going to war with potentially innocent countries.

Michelle knew Tony respected Jack. Maybe he'd listen to him. She should take the chance. She walked over to the desk he was at and waited for him to finish. As soon as he did, she said, "I'm glad you're okay, Jack."

He looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks."

"Look," she said, stepping in close to him. "I know Tony's running things and I don't want to speak out of turn, but I don't know who else to talk to."

"About what?" Jack asked.

"I think the president's planning a major military action based on a recording that was found in Ali's apartment. It links high-ranking officials from three governments to the nuke. Problem is…" she glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "Ali claims it was a fake."

"And you believe him?" Jack asked pointedly.

"I—I don't know what to believe," she admitted. "I just think we oughta be sure before we retaliate against these countries."

"Well, that's Tony's call. I'm sorry. I'm trying to get a hold of my daughter."

Michelle tried one last time. "Oh no, I understand that. But you're the one who broke Ali. You can read him better than anyone here or at Guantanamo. Please Jack, before Ali is gone. He's the only one who can prove whether or not this recording is real."

"Fine, I'll talk to him. Now, do me a favor," Jack said. "See if you can get a hold of this Sergeant Griggs. Tell him it's regarding my daughter.

Tony was talking with one of the security guards when Jack came back outside. He watched as Jack had a few words with Ali and then hit the ground when a gunshot rang out.

He looked up to see Ali on the ground and Jack taking cover behind the truck. He started shouting orders to set up a perimeter to find the sniper. He knew that Ali had to be the target, so he wasn't afraid to keep himself or his men outside. But how did anyone know when Ali would be moved?

Jack walked up to him several minutes later, "I just got off the line with L.A.P.D. The perimeter's set up."

"How the hell did anybody know we were moving him?" Tony asked.

"Half the intelligence community knew we had him in custody. The leak could've come from anywhere," Jack said.

"Figure the shooter's gotta be connected to one of the countries in the Cyprus recording, right?

Jack stared at him. "Maybe."

"What do you mean?" Tony had a sinking feeling in his gut. "They had the most to lose by Ali talking. Who else would it have been?"

"I don't know, but I'm starting to think Ali might have been telling the truth."

Tony shook his head. Michelle had gotten to Jack. "You talked to Michelle."

"No, I talked to Ali."

A guard came up to them. "I've got Captain Raskind from L.A.P.D. for you." He held out a phone.

"Yeah. One minute, please," Tony said and turned back to Tony. "Let me get this straight. You're taking Syed Ali's word over every expert we have?"

"Tony, Ali was killed for a reason. You have to find out whether or not it was because he could prove that that recording was fabricated."

Tony was getting angry. First Michelle, and now Jack, didn't trust him to make decisions on this. "Well, our best people have already verified that recording."

"Fine," Jack said calmly. "Keep the door open. Assign a few men to it."

"I don't have any men to spare, Jack! The Pentagon's got us processing intel from nine different countries, and frankly, I think this is a dead end."

"Sir, Captain Raskind---"the guard tried again.

Tony whirled on him. "One minute. Could you just give me one minute please? Thank you."

Jack wasn't giving up. "Tony, the president is going to make some very, very serious decisions based on the information that he got from that recording."

Tony lowered his head and rubbed his forehead. His blood pressure had to be thru the roof. He didn't want to admit the pressure was getting to him, but it was. For the first time he wished George were here to handle the responsibility of being in charge.

"If there's the slightest chance that that thing is not genuine, you have a responsibility—"Jack continued.

"My God! You're gonna lecture me on responsibility, Jack?" Tony interrupted. "I mean, come on. We both know how you work. You consider going against the grain as some kind of virtue."

"Why are you talking to me like this?" Jack asked softly.

"'Cause I got a job to do and I don't appreciate being told how to do it."

"I'm just trying to help."

Tony knew he'd one day regret these words, but he said them anyway. "I don't need your help, Jack. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate everything you've done for us today. Really I do. But I think it's time you go get your daughter. Let us handle the rest of this. All right?"

Jack scoffed, obviously angry at his words. "Yeah, fine."

Tony watched Jack walk back into C.T.U. That damn guard put the phone right in his face. "Yeah?" he asked into the phone, very annoyed.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Michelle's nerves were frayed. She was nervous that Tony would find out she talked to Jack. She kept glancing around, waiting for either man to come back into C.T.U.

"This is Dessler," she said when her phone rang.

"Michelle, its Jack. Look for the time being, I want you to keep this information between us, okay?" He said, his voice was low.

Michelle glanced around, wondering where he was. She saw him round the corner and walk into the room, on his cell phone. He didn't so much as glance at her, but continued walking like he was having an outside conversation.

"Look, I just talked to the president. He will not halt any military action unless we can provide him with proof."

"Ali was our only proof," she interrupted.

She saw him sit down at a desk. "There's gotta be another way to establish Ali's presence at that time," he said. "Other foreign agencies must have been tracking him as well."

"An intelligence official from one of the target countries is here," she informed him, realizing that Jack had never been introduced to Auda.

"What are you talking about? Here at C.T.U.? Why?"

Michelle kept her voice low so no one would here her, but explained, "We struck an intelligence sharing agreement earlier today. Look, he's the one who escorted the evidence from Ali's apartment."

"And you think he knows something?" Jack asked.

"He might, but Tony doesn't want him talking to anyone."

Jack sighed. "Okay, fine. What's his name?"

"Yusuf Auda. A-U-D-A."

"Okay. I'll pull up his C.V.; see if I can run a background check. I'll get back to you."

Michelle hung up, glanced around and sat back down at her computer. Her heart was racing still, but she tried to concentrate on the tasks she knew she had to do. It was difficult though, knowing the ramifications if she was caught going behind Tony's back.

Jack called twenty minutes later.

"Was Yusuf Auda helpful?" she asked.

"No, not yet. He's got some trust issues," he said. "I'm right behind you."

She glanced around and saw him behind a partial wall. "Look," he said, "I think there's gonna be another way to prove the Cyprus recording was faked, but I'm gonna need your help. You're gonna have to trust me."

Michelle looked over to where Carrie sat, who was obviously watching her. "Yeah. Whatever you need." _Let her watch_; she didn't know who she was talking to or why.

"I received an anonymous call from a man claiming he was in Cyprus on April 5th and fabricated the tape. He will give me the evidence to this if I meet him downtime in thirty minutes," Jack explained.

"Okay," she said, wondering where she came in on this.

"He's requested I bring Kate Warner with me."

That was a surprise. "Kate Warner? Why?"

"I don't know, but I can't afford not to meet with him. Now, he will not cooperate if I bring C.T.U. into this."

Michelle nodded. "Isn't she being debriefed now?"

"Yes, but I have to take her now. Can you get Agent Baker out of the room long enough for me to get Kate out?"

She sighed. This was going to be dangerous for her. "Yeah."

"Good. I'll be watching and will go in for Kate when you've gotten him out," Jack said. He went on in an urgent tone, "No one can know what happens, Michelle. Not until I get that evidence."

"I understand." Michelle hung up and sighed deeply. Thinking of an excuse quickly, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked over to the debrief room. "Baker."

"Yeah?"

She leaned into the room. "You did the Macauley interview last week, right?"

"Yeah, I did," he said.

"There's a page missing from the transcript. Must have happened when it was filed," she said, hoping she sounded believable. "Do you have a copy of the original?"

"Yeah, but I have another hour or two here."

"Can't wait. Division wants it right now."

Baker sighed and got out. Michelle commented, "I'm just glad I double-checked before it got sent out."

"Yeah," he said and turned to Kate Warner. "Sorry. I'll be right back."

Michelle smiled at Kate and walked back to her station. She wanted to look behind her to see if Jack went in, but didn't dare. She could probably get a metal for how many times her heart had beaten out of control today.

Tony sat up in his office, trying to work on reports and data needed by Division. He felt bad for how he spoke to Jack, but didn't have it in him to go and apologize yet. He was still on the edge, and would be until this thing was over. He'd wait a day or two, and then call Jack up. Jack would understand.

His phone rang. "Almeida."

"Yeah, it's Carrie."

"What's up?"

"Unless I'm misreading the situation, Jack is trying to remove Kate Warner from C.T.U. "

Tony's good thoughts for Jack went up in smoke. "I'll be right down." Tony ran down his office stairs and down a back hallway towards the parking garage. He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't letting Jack leave with Kate yet.

He just made it. He opened up the door right in front of Jack and Kate. "Where the hell do you think you're going, Jack?"

"I don't have time to explain," Jack said, making a motion to move past him.

"Let's find the time!" Tony insisted, pulling his gun and pointing it at Jack. He wasn't playing around.

"My God! What are you doing?" Kate Warner screamed.

"Kate, stay against the wall," Jack directed. "Tony, put down the gun."

"Not till you tell me what you're doing, Jack," Tony said.

Jack stared at him with eyes that begged Tony to trust him, but Tony shut them out. He was losing control of this entire situation, and didn't like it.

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "But I can't. Who do you think you're kidding here, Tony? You're not gonna shoot me. Put the gun down."

Tony just stared at Jack, who was inching closer to him. "Put the gun down." Jack lunged for him, grabbed the gun and punched Tony in the face before Tony could make a move. Tony fell down, twisting his ankle hard in the process.

_Fuck! Damn it!_ Tony groaned. "Jack! Jack!" he yelled as Jack and Kate took off outside.

His ankle was hurting bad. He didn't think it was broken, but he definitely couldn't walk on it. He would have to wait until someone walked by in order to get any help as he left his cell phone upstairs in his office. He groaned again, pushing himself up against the wall.

The door opened and Carrie walked into the hall, but headed the other way. He called her name and she spun around. "Tony, what happened!"

"It was Jack. I tried to stop him from taking Kate Warner out of here," he said. He groaned again from the pain.

"What is it?"

"My ankle," he said.

"I'll get the medic," she said, running off.

"Hey, call Security first. Make sure they stop Jack."

"Yeah."

Tony had to wait about five minutes before the medic got there. Carrie came back with her. "They stop'em?" he asked Carrie.

"No, he drove right through the gate."

_Damn you Jack! What the hell are you doing?_

The medic leaned down. "What's the problem?"

"My ankle," he said through gritted teeth.

"Let's take a look." She untied his shoes and probed around his ankle. It hurt like hell, but he tried to be a man about it and not let it show.

"Did you call L.A.P.D.?" he asked Carrie.

"Yeah, and the F.B.I. They're all looking for him."

The medic looked up, "Could be a torn ligament. Maybe a sprain, but I don't think it's broken. We've gotta get you an x-ray."

"Great," he muttered. He didn't have time for this.

"I'll be right back with the first aid kit," the medic said.

Carrie looked back at him. "You said Jack took Kate Warner with him?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think he was working alone," she said.

Tony stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"While Baker was keeping an eye on Kate, Michelle distracted him just a few minutes before I found you."

"Distracted him how?"

"She called him away on some paperwork," she said smugly.

"Well so?" he asked. "Jack could have just been using that as a window. It doesn't mean they were working together."

"I think it does," she said. "Michelle was talking to Jack right before she went to Baker."

Tony didn't want to believe it. "He might have been setting her up."

"It didn't appear that way."

Tony's heart sank. Why would Michelle do this? Instinctively he knew that he had to do with the Cyprus recording. _Damn it Michelle_!

The medic came back and helped him down to C.T.U. Medical. They x-ray was taken quickly and no breaks found. They diagnosed torn ligaments as the probable cause, like the medic initially said. They wrapped his ankle and gave him crutches to use for the next several days. He accepted Motrin for the pain, but refused any harder pain killers. He had to keep his mind sharp.

He hobbled back down to his office. Michelle met him along the way. "Tony!"

_Now's the time to find out if she helped him. _"Yeah?"

"What'd the doctor say?" she asked, concern in her voice as she followed him back to his office.

"Oh, I don't know. They think I tore a ligament or something," he said, stopping in front of his desk and trying to harden his heart against her. He needed to find the truth out without his personal feelings getting involved. "Look, um, Carrie told me that she saw you talking to Jack right before he took Kate Warner out of C.T.U."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah. Is that a problem?"

He put his crutches against the desk and put his hands on his hips. "Well, it depends on what you were talking about." He looked her in the eye. "What were you talking about?"

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. His heart sank. She cocked her head to the side in disbelief and asked, "Are you interrogating me?"

Tony sighed and sat down. "Did you help Jack take Kate Warner out of here?"

"Of course not. Is that what Carrie told you? That I'm in collusion with Jack?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

She looked away, glancing down at the floor where Carrie was, and said. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. She doesn't know what she's taking about."

"Look, Michelle, it doesn't matter whether you think Jack is right or wrong," Tony said, trying to give her time to admit the truth. "The fact is, this is my command and what happens here is my responsibility. "

"I know that."

"So I need you to be honest with me now. Did you intentionally draw Agent Baker away from Kate Warner?"

"No, I did not."

Tony wanted to believe her more than anything, but didn't. He had worked with her too closely not to know. "So why would Carrie tell me you did?"

"Because she'd like to see me out of here," Michelle answered.

"Why's that?" Tony hoped she'd at least tell him what was between her and Carrie.

Michelle's voice was bitter. "Because I don't like her, and she knows it."

"You want to tell me about it?"

"No, not really." She folded her arms across her chest.

Tony sighed and looked down at his desk. He hated that she was shutting him out, personally and now professionally. What happened to her confidence in him? "Look, if you've got a problem that's interfering with your work---"

"It's not interfering with my work," she interrupted. "It's not."

Tony knew he was getting no where. "Okay. Thanks."

She hesitated and then walked away. Tony watched her, wondering who he could believe. He knew Michelle, trusted her. But he felt deep in his heart that she was lying to him. He had worked with her for too long now not to know when something was different about her.

Michelle walked away, her heart in her throat. She had just blatantly lied to Tony, her boss and her friend. The man she really, really liked. But she had had no choice. She glared at Carrie's back as she walked by her station. If it wasn't for that bitch Tony wouldn't be suspecting her.

Deciding now was a time to take a break, Michelle headed down the hall to the break room. She was starving, but her stomach was in knots from the deception she was now living and didn't know if she could keep anything down. She stared at the choices in the vending machine and shook her head. She grabbed a coke instead and sat down for five minutes.

How did this day get so crazy? Everything had been happening so fast, and it still wasn't over. They had to find out if the recording was fake or not. War depended on it. She was not innocent in the least and knew that there were plenty of people in the world who would love to try to set up other governments in order to start a war. There was much to be profited from war.

She drained her soda and knew she had to get back to work. She prayed Tony would forgive her when this was all said and done. It would certainly help her cause if she and Jack turned out to be right. Tony was a reasonable man; he was just under a huge amount of stress right now. After everything was done, he'd be able to take a step back and realize she had done the right thing.

At least she hoped and prayed that's how it would work out.

Tony hung up from a call with Mike Novick from the president's office and sighed. Mike wanted to talk to Jack Bauer. He had to find out where Jack was, and he didn't think asking Michelle would help. He would have to resort to other means. He looked down on the floor and saw Michelle walking back to her desk. Why did she have to fight him on this? He knew she thought she was right in helping Jack out, especially since she knew he was closed to the issue. He had pretty much told her he wasn't going to push the issue any more since he believed the experts and that was probably why she felt forced to keep this from him, but it still was inexcusable. He had the responsibility to running this office during a crisis of epic proportions, and couldn't do that if he couldn't account for the actions of this office. Besides the fact that Michelle knew him better than most and should trust him.

He sighed, called Carrie and asked her to come up to his office.

"Yes Tony?" she asked as she came inside his office.

"Where are we regarding Jack?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and drinking some cold coffee.

"His exit wasn't picked up on satellite and he hasn't initiated contact with anyone."

"What about Kate Warner?"

"Her house and her father's company are being watched in case they go there."

Tony nodded. "Good."

Carrie asked, "Have you… talked to Michelle?"

"Yeah. In fact, um, I wanted to talk to you about that. Do you have a problem working in the same office with Michelle?"

Carrie didn't answer the question. "Is that what you think? That I'd be making up stories about her because I have a problem working with her?"

Tony didn't respond and waited for her to go on.

"She and Jack were talking before he took Kate Warner. They weren't trading recipes. It was conspiratorial."

Tony glanced down into the bullpen and saw Michelle looking up at them. She turned her head as soon as Tony made eye contact. _God Michelle, why did you have to lie to me?_

"All right," he told Carrie. "Look, uh, I need you to put a filter on all of Michelle's communications, all right? E-mails, phone calls, open channels. I want you to let me know when Jack tries to contact her, all right?"

"Done."

Tony watched Carrie walk away and then looked back down at Michelle. She was looking up at him again, but as before, turned back to her computer when she saw him. He closed his eyes in anger. Why did every woman he become interested in lie to him?


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Michelle knew Tony knew. They knew each other too well. The fact that he was talking to Carrie in his office instead of her spoke volumes. He always came to her about everything and she delegated down from there.

She swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on her screen. Did she just ruin everything that could happen between them based on her gut feeling that a terrorist told the truth? She was crazy!

But she was too far in to stop now. She was already in trouble; may as well continue on and let Jack get what he needed.

Hurry up Jack!

She frowned as an error message popped up on her screen. "System Fault." What did that mean? She picked up her phone and called Carrie.

"Turner."

"I just got an alarm condition on the backup server. Do you have one?" she asked.

"No, I don't. It must be on your side of the router," Carrie said. "Want me to go to patch bay and check out the connections?"

Michelle sighed. "No. Um, you need "C" clearance for that. I'll have to do it."

"Right. I forgot."

Michelle hung up and headed down to patch day. Why had the connections all of a sudden gone bad? She swiped her card and went into the room. She checked the server and found the problem. There was a connection cable that had fallen out. At least it wasn't a serious problem. She fixed the cable and went back to her station.

Her phone rang as she sat down. "C.T.U. Dessler."

"Hey. Hey, uh, it's me."

Michelle groaned inwardly. What did her brother want, especially at almost one in the morning? "Danny, what are you doing up?"

"I can't—I can't sleep. Are you sure it's safe here?"

"Ah, yeah, as far as I know it is."

"As far as you know? What the hell does that mean?" Danny demanded. Michelle could tell he had been drinking.

"Look, Danny, you know my situation."

"Yeah, well, you know what? Your situation sucks. You're talking about my life here. The least you can do is tell me what you know."

Michelle had to get him to calm down and off the phone. "There's nothing to know. Stay where you are, get some sleep. I'll come over tomorrow."

"Listen, I swear to God, don't you patronize me! Don't you patronize me 'cause I want answers. A nuclear bomb just went off, all right? I wanna know if it's safe to stay here in L.A." He yelled. "Hey, wh-what about the kids? Don't you care about the kids?"

She had enough. She could tell he was scared, but he knew was her job entailed. He knew to leave her alone to do it. And using her niece and nephew to make her feel guilty was just plain wrong! "Yeah, of course I do. If there was anything to know, I would tell you."

"Is that right? Well, you didn't tell me about the bomb. What happened there? Did it slip your mind?"

"I already explained it to you. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone."

"Oh, you know what? Maybe I should call Carrie. Sh-she'd tell me."

Michelle looked over at Carrie's desk, surprised. "I thought you two weren't speaking."

"We're not," he said. "She's a bitch."

"Danny, I will take care –"

"Forget it!" he said and hung up on her.

Great! She knew Danny was scared, but why did he have to do this to her? He knew she couldn't tell him any information. She glanced over at Carrie's desk. Man she hated her.

Michelle went back to her computer and narrowed her eyes at the screen. Someone had been on her computer. She clicked open a few screens and confirmed it. She was being monitored. Tony didn't believe her and was using Carrie to monitor her.

How could he do this? Michelle fumed for a minute, and then calmed down. If she were in Tony's position she would do the same thing. He was in the dark concerning Jack and didn't like it, especially coming from her. Well, she didn't like it either, but it couldn't be helped. Tony made his decision earlier.

Fine, let them try to monitor her. Two could play this game. She went back to her work so they wouldn't realize she knew, and waited for Jack to call her. Her cell was scrambled, so while they would know she took a call, they wouldn't be able to trace it to Jack.

It rang ten minutes later. "Dessler."

"Michelle, its Jack. Are we secure?"

"My cell's scrambled but don't call me on any agency numbers. I'm being monitored," she whispered.

"You were right," Jack said, stopping her in her tracks. "Syed Ali's recording was fake. The president's about to invade the Middle East based on falsified evidence."

"Do you have proof?" she whispered, looking around.

"No, not yet, but I can get it. I need your help."

"It's going to be difficult," she admitted. "Tony's been breathing down my neck ever since I helped you get out of here."

"You're going to have to work around it," he said.

_Thanks Jack! Easier said than done._

"I need infrared satellite at my position now," Jack went on.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"You can get the coordinates off our cell phone connection. Get back to me."

"What are you looking for?"

"We're surrounded. We're in a warehouse. There's three of us inside. I need to know how many men are outside and what their positions are. I got a friendly at the north end of the alley, behind a Dumpster."

She started typing on her computer. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Michelle."

Michelle got those coordinates and pulled up the satellite imagery. She downloaded hundreds of coordinates so that no one would be able to know where she was really looking. She hoped looking at satellite wouldn't make her suspicious as they had been using it all night, but she didn't think so. When Tony found out she was looking at satellite images, he would assume she was looking for Jack. He wasn't stupid.

_I have no choice!_ She told herself and tried to cover her tracks as well as she could, giving Jack as much time as she could.

Carrie walked over to her five minutes later. "What are you doing on the satellite?"

It irked Michelle that Carrie would even ask her. Technically Michelle was her boss and she had no right to question her. "Just checking on something," she replied through clenched lips. "Prep the files for the next shift?"

Carrie smirked. "Yeah, I'm almost done."

Michelle waited for her to ask for something or more on. She knew Carrie was just being nosey.

"I'm going to go see if Tony needs some help," Carrie finally said.

_Oh come'on. Can you be more obvious?_

Michelle watched her walk upstairs, but continued searching the satellites. She needed to find those images for Jack sooner rather than later. Carrie she could handle; Tony was another matter. She didn't know how much longer she could stall him. He knew her too well, and he was her weak spot in the first place.

Tony was at his desk when Carrie called him. "She's looking at infrareds. She's been collecting data now for almost ten minutes."

"All right," Tony said, disappointed. "I'll tell you what. Pull the coordinates off of what she's looking at. If she's doing it for Jack, that's where we're going to find him."

"I tried that."

"Well, what's the problem?" he asked, annoyed.

"She's covered her tracks. She's pulled over a hundred quadrants. I have no idea which one she's really interested in."

Tony had it. He liked Michelle, respected her and had hoped for something more than a work relationship, but this was too much. Not only had she lied to him, but now he knew for sure that she was aiding a covert operation behind his back.

"I'll tell you what, I'll deal with this myself, Carrie. All right? Thanks." He hung up and looked down at Michelle. He watched Michelle get up and walk away. He grabbed his crutches and followed her. She went into the bathroom. He waited outside.

Michelle made sure the bathroom was empty and then took her cell phone out. She dialed Jack's line, her pulse jumping at every noise. She knew Tony and Carrie were watching her, and it made her extremely nervous. What would Tony do when he confirmed what he thought?

"Yeah?" Jack said.

"I don't have a lot of time. Are you ready?" she asked, almost breathless with nerves.

"Give me one sec," he said. "Okay. I'm ready."

"I count eleven, including your friendly. I'm sending you their positions on an infrared map. They're all stationary, except for one," she said. "Jack, he's roving."

"Okay. Send it."

"Okay." She pushed a few buttons and transmitted the images to Jack's cell. "You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Look, Jack, how much longer do you need to stay anonymous?"

"I don't know. Why?"

Michelle sighed. "Tony's watching me---"

The door opened and she whispered, "Gotta go." _Damn!_

She hung up the phone and avoided eye contact with the two women who walked in. She cradled her phone in her hand and walked out the door. She turned the corner and stood face-to-face with Tony.

Her pulse jumped from surprise. She could see he was coldly angry. His eyes were dark and his face grim. He had been waiting for her. She sucked a breath in, determined to stay focused and not let her emotions control her.

He looked down at her hand. "You always take a phone with you to the bathroom?"

She avoided his eyes and looked away.

"Where's Jack?" he asked directly.

"I don't know," she said much more calmly that she felt.

"Look, Michelle, you know we've been monitoring all the communication coming in and out of this building all day," Tony told her, putting his crutches beside him on the wall and putting his hands on his hips. "Now, if you're breaking protocol---"

"I'm not," she interjected.

"All right. Then I'll ask it again," Tony said coolly. "Where's Jack."

"I don't know." She enunciated all three words before going on, hoping he would listen to her this time. "But you have to call President Palmer. You have to tell him not to act on the recording until Jack finishes the investigation."

Tony's face turned even angrier. "So you have talked to Jack!"

"I didn't say that," Michelle said and tried to walk past him.

He grabbed her arm and stopped her. He whispered to her, calmly and coolly, "Listen carefully, Michelle. You don't work for Jack. You work for me."

Michelle was angry now. "Would you get past your ego for one---"

"Ego? I got a job to do here. You don't like the way I'm doing it, that's your problem!" he hissed. "But if you know anything about Jack Bauer, you better tell me about it right now!"

Michelle turned her head and stared into Tony's eyes. They both knew it was a lie, but Michelle wasn't betraying Jack now. "I have no information. I'm not helping Jack."

She deliberately looked down at his hand on her arm. He let her go. They stared at each other and then Tony said, "I hope you're not lying to me."

Michelle walked away from him. Now that the confrontation was over she willed the tears welling up in her eyes to go away. She hated the position she was in, but couldn't change it now. She honestly thought she and Tony could have had something special, but that was probably shot to shit now. She wiped her eyes and walked back to her desk.

_Please Jack! Please get that proof. It's my only chance of making it out of this with my job still intact. My love life will be a different story, no matter what, though_.

Michelle sat back down and tried to get back into the work she was supposed to be doing. She didn't stop thinking about Jack, though. If he was surrounded, he would have to engage in a gunfight, which meant L.A.P.D. would get wind of it. And if the police found out, C.T.U. would get flagged as well. She hoped Jack got what he wanted because she would guarantee that Tony would put two and two together.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Not even fifteen minutes later Michelle's fears were confirmed when she heard Tony rushing up as far as his crutches would go. "Carrie!" he yelled.

"Yeah?"

"L.A.P.D. just called. There's automatic weapon fire in Studio City."

Michelle's heart skipped a beat. She didn't bother to turn around and watch them. She knew Tony would come after her next, grilling her about Jack.

"Police are arriving and they're finding bodies and military spec weapons. Communications got the address. Check it against the coordinates of the images Michelle pulled off the satellite, all right?" Tony informed Carrie.

"Right away."

Michelle heard Tony come up to her, yelling all the way, "Is that the location, Michelle? Huh? Is it?"

Tony leaned against her desk and got into her face. She backed off a little. She wasn't afraid of him physically, but his intensity did scare her.

"Police just got there. They already got four bodies. So let's talk!" he growled.

Michelle knew she couldn't push him off any longer. She glanced around, aware of the people staring, and then back at Tony. "Yeah, that's it."

"All right. We got to call him. He may need our help."

Michelle tried to argue. "Jack made it very clear that the only way to get the proof on this tape is if C.T.U. stays out of it."

"We don't even know if he's still alive!" Tony yelled.

Michelle was having a hard time breathing right. She closed her eyes, bit her lip and grabbed her cell phone. As she dialed Jack's number she explained, "He's on an open channel. You won't be able to trace it, but you can talk to him."

Tony took the phone. He stared at Michelle hard the entire time he talked to Jack. "No, Jack, it's Tony… What's going on, Jack?... How do we know he's not using you, Jack?... What's he want?... All right, bring him here, Jack. We'll deal with him here… I understand what you're saying Jack, but this country's about to go to war. This is way too big for one person to handle. Even you… "

Jack must have hung up on Tony. Tony flung the cell phone away and stormed up to his office. Michelle wasn't sure what to do. She tried to lean over her computer and go back to what she was doing, but the tears falling on her keyboard changed her mind. She quickly ran to the bathroom, hating the stares from everyone.

She wiped the tears off her cheeks, stared at the ceiling as she tried to blink away the rest of them, and took a deep breath. Okay. It was over. She didn't have to lie anymore. Now she had to figure out a way to apologize to Tony and hope he would understand.

Tony sat at his office and pulled up the information about the shooting on his screen that L.A.P.D. had sent over. He was so furious right now at Jack and Michelle; well, mostly Jack. How could he go rogue on them- again!- and think he could do everything himself? The man was impossible to work with. He felt like he knew the best and only way to get things done.

_He is damn good, but he's an asshole to work with too,_ he thought to himself.

He looked down and saw Michelle walking towards her desk. Her face was still flushed and she looked nervous. He narrowed his eyes, and his heart. She shouldn't have gone behind his back. How was he supposed to do his job if the people he trusted most went against him?

He sighed, threw his pen down and stared at the computer. Realizing he didn't have time for this, he took a deep breath and went back to work.

Michelle knew she wouldn't be able to get any work done until she talked to him. She slowly walked up the stairs, stopped right outside his door and took a deep breath. She walked in.

He was leaning over his desk, writing something down and looking at his laptop. When she walked in he glanced up at her and then back down to what he was doing. There was no greeting.

She took the plunge. "I know the rules. I know that I work for you and if you fire me, I wouldn't blame you."

Tony looked up and she could see he was still angry. "This isn't about me firing you, Michelle. This agency is supposed to be supporting the president of the United States and the rest of this country. Now, if I can't account for our agents' actions, then all we've got is chaos."

"Jack is in an impossible situation," she tried to explain. "All I was trying to do was help him get the proof that the Cyprus audio was a forgery."

"Yeah?" Tony asked, straightening up and putting his hands on his hips. "Well, where's the proof? We don't have any proof. We don't have Jack. He doesn't want to be found."

Michelle sighed and looked down. Tony wasn't going to understand.

"What do you want from me, Michelle?" he asked.

She jerked her head back up at his words. Never had she seen him so angry at her before. Not in all the time they had worked together had his anger been directed at her. She felt those damn tears in the back of her eyes again. "I—I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

He looked away and rubbed his cheek. "Yeah, well, you've said it. Now, if you don't mind, I got work to do, all right?"

He sat down in his chair and started working again, totally ignoring her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and walked back downstairs.

Tony watched her leave, knowing he was being overly hard on her. He hated it, but he was still angry with her. He understood she was trying to help Jack and trying to do what she thought was right, but he wasn't ready to forgive her yet.

His phone rang. "Almeida."

"Tony, its Jack."

_Thank God_! "Jack, where are you?"

"Tony, I can barely hear you. You're going to have to speak up. We've got a really bad connection."

Tony wasn't about to let that stop him. "Yeah, listen; I want you to bring Wallace back here now."

"Tony, Wallace is dead, but I got the evidence that proves the Cyprus audio was forged. It's a C.P.B. memory chip containing the original source recordings."

"How do you know it's real, Jack?" asked Tony, shaking his head, wanting to believe him but confused as to if he should. His department had authenticated the recording; could all those experts have been wrong? He sighed.

"Because he died trying to give it to me," Jack said pointedly. "He had it surgically implanted. I hardly think he'd have gone to that kind of trouble if it wasn't authentic."

Tony sighed. "All right. Where are you?"

"We're in an urgent care center in North Hollywood. About forty minutes outside of C.T.U. We're going to bring you the chip now.'

"All right. Call in your route from the road so I can send an aerial escort."

"Okay, fine. Tony, I need you to get in touch with the president," Jack went on. "I've been trying to get through, but he's in the middle of a meeting with the Joint Chiefs. They won't patch me through."

Tony shook his head. "Jack, I'm not calling the president until I confirm what you're holding is real."

"Tony, you've got to at least tell him what's going on." Jack tried to insist.

Tony didn't say anything; he didn't know what the right move was.

"Tony, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you, Jack."

"I got to go. Please, just do what I ask."

Again he hung up on Tony. Tony leaned against the wall, the phone still in his hand and stared into nothing. What was the right move here? Should he inform the president and take the chance of stopping an attack well-deserved? But if he said nothing and the attack happened, but the recording was faked, they would have bombed three innocent countries.

Tony shook his head again, rubbing his forehead from an impending headache. He focused his eyes on Michelle, standing in front of her desk on the phone. Whatever the conversation was, it wasn't making her happy. Tony bit the inside of his lip and started down towards her. After everything she had scarified to help Jack, whether right or wrong, she deserved to know what he had said.

Michelle couldn't believe Danny was calling her again and arguing with her. She ran her fingers through her hair. "Danny, you have to stop doing this, okay? I told you not to call. I'm sorry you're upset, but I don't have time for this right now."

"Why? Wh-what's going on?' he asked.

"Nothing's—"she started to say but was interrupted by someone who needed her.

"Can you sign at the top?" the man asked, holding out a clipboard and a report needing her signature.

She signed quickly and turned back to her conversation with her drunken brother. "Yeah. Don't worry. We're taking care of things here."

"Really? Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"Just sit tight. I'll call you as soon as I get a chance. But I have to go. I have---"Michelle glanced around, hoping no one was observing her.

"Forget it." He hung up on her again.

Michelle stared at phone in her hand for a moment and then clicked the "off" button. As if she needed another problem today. She felt like she could fall apart at any moment, but knew she couldn't let herself. All she wanted to do was crawl away somewhere and cry her eyes out. This day was taking too much from her.

"Hey." Tony walked up to her and startled her. She didn't even know he was there. Did he know she was on a personal call? He already was angry with her for going against him; she didn't need anything else to make her look bad.

"Uh, there's something wrong with the phones," she blurted out.

He nodded. "Yeah, the network's been overloaded ever since news of the bomb broke."

She nodded slightly and looked away. He was talking to her like normal, but she didn't know how to act around him.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked.

She looked up quickly. "No one. What's going on?"

Tony didn't press her. "Well, Jack just called. He says he's got the evidence from Wallace."

Michelle's heart picked up a pace. Finally, some good news! "Does the president know?"

"No. We haven't confirmed that it's authentic yet."

She stepped closer to him and insisted, "Tony, the president's acting on the assumption that the Cyprus recording is real."

He nodded. "And this evidence may prove that it's not. I know."

"Tony, you've gotta call the president," she argued.

He stared into her eyes and nodded slowly. "I'm thinking about it." He said before turning around and walking away.

Michelle leaned over her desk and took a deep breath. _Please Tony do the right thing!_

Tony's conscience was getting the better of him. He had a responsibility to the president to keep him informed, and despite his earlier feelings, he knew that reporting this information was the right thing to do.

He looked over his desk down at Michelle. He was beginning to see that both she and Jack were right. A man wouldn't surgically implant a chip into his body and protect it if his story wasn't true. What if someone faked the recording just to start a war? It wasn't as crazy as it might sound. People do desperate things to get what they want.

He swallowed his pride and picked up the phone. Busy. The circuits were overloaded. He called the president on the emergency satcom network and then told to hold for the president. As he held he kept watching Michelle. Every so often she'd look up at his office, and he'd pretend to be looking at his computer. He wasn't sure what he felt for her, but he definitely felt something. His anger towards her was gone, he realized. She had done what she thought was right, which was looking more and more correct in reality, and took a stand against him. He knew she liked him, so it must have been an even more difficult decision for her.

She looked about ready to crack under the pressure and he was concerned. This crisis needed to be over soon. It was taking so much out of everyone.

Michelle was getting briefed by Erika about some reports when she looked over and saw Tony standing at his office door, looking at her. He obviously wanted to speak to her.

"They look fine," she told Erika. "Just send them to District. Uh, excuse me."

"Got it," she said.

Michelle walked over to Tony, but he met her halfway.

"Hey," he said. "Look, um, I just wanted you to know that, uh, I told the president about Jack."

She felt her mouth open in surprise. _Thank you!_ "You did?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. If Jack has what he says he has, the president should know about it."

Michelle was so relieved. "How did he react?"

Tony shrugged, or tried to shrug as the crutches under his arms didn't allow for it. "He wants us to keep him apprised of the situation."

"You did the right thing, Tony."

"Yeah, well, we'll find out when Jack gets here with that chip." Tony avoided her eyes, his pride obviously taking a beating.

"When did he say?" she asked.

"About twenty minutes."

"Okay."

Tony leaned closer to her and said softly, "Look, when he does get here, I want you to make sure that thing is real."

She nodded. "I'll pull up the C.P.B. software right now."

"All right. Thanks," he said, and turned to go.

"Tony," she said to stop him.

He turned back around. "Yeah?"

"Thank you," she said, hoping her eyes conveyed more than those two simple words could.

He nodded, his eyes more welcoming than they had been in a few hours. "Yeah."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Michelle hurried back to her station. She wanted to be ready when Jack brought that chip in. She spent five minutes trying to access the software but was getting nowhere. The system wasn't cooperating with her. Unfortunately, she'd have to get Carrie to fix it.

She dialed her extension. "Turner."

"Can I see you a minute?" Michelle asked, hating to have to talk to her again.

"Yeah, sure."

Michelle stood up out of her chair and tried again to access the software. She bit her lip and sighed. _Damn computer systems_.

Carrie came up to her. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. Jack's bringing a chip in," she began.

Carrie interrupted her, "Yeah, that's what Tony said."

Michelle's blood boiled. Carrie obviously was trying to throw it in her face that Tony had also informed her. She clenched her jaw and went on, "Well, he wants me to run point on the analysis and I'm having trouble accessing the C.P.B. software."

"No problem," Carrie said. "Just send it to my screen. I'll do it."

Michelle's hand came up and rubbed her face. Why did Carrie have to be so difficult? "I just need you to unlock the indexing function."

"And I said I would do it."

Michelle whirled on her and said, her voice loud with her frustration, "I don't need you to do it, Carrie. I need you to unlock the indexing function!"

"What is your problem, Michelle?" Carrie exploded.

"You know what? You've been gunning for me from the moment you got here!" Michelle yelled, getting closer to Carrie.

"I could say the same thing!" she yelled back.

"I'm just trying to do my job," Michelle retorted.

"Really?"

Michelle's phone rang. She glared at Carrie, but went to answer it. "Dessler."

It was Tony. "Could I see you up here a second?"

"Yeah, sure," she said. Tony must have heard or seen them yelling at one another. _Great._ She hung up the phone and turned back to Carrie, "Just do what I asked."

"Fine."

Michelle walked up to Tony's office, sighing. How was she going to explain this?

Tony got out of his chair as she walked in and came around to the side of his desk. He sat down on it and asked, "So what was that about?"

"What?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

"You and Carrie. What were you arguing about?"

She stalled for time. "It's nothing. I asked her to open some C.P.B. software, and she's making me jump through hoops."

Tony looked away for a second, down to where Carrie was. "Look, I know you don't want to tell me, but, uh, whatever bad blood there is between the two of you, I gotta know what it is."

Just what Michelle feared. She shook her head and took a step closer to him. "It doesn't matter, especially with everything that's going on today."

"That's exactly why it does matter, Michelle," Tony insisted. "It's interfering with your work. Now what's the problem?"

Michelle swallowed and licked her lips. She didn't want to rehash this, but he was giving her no choice. "When I worked for Carrie over at Division, we were friends," she admitted reluctantly. "I introduced her to my brother. He was married, he had kids. He left them for her."

She bit her lip, remembering how hard it was. "And then she got bored. She dumped him. Danny lost everything. His family, his job. It got so bad, he tried to kill himself."

Tony looked down and scratched his face. She couldn't say anything more at the moment. Just speaking the words made her so upset.

"Look, uh, it's unfortunate that you two have to work together, but you do," Tony said softly. "And I've got to keep this office running today, all right?"

She stared at him a second and said, "I understand."

"Good." His phone rang and he went to answer it. Unsure if he still had anything else to say to her, Michelle waited. "Yeah, just a second. It's for you," he said, holding out the phone for her.

She wrinkled her brows, but took the outstretched phone. Who would bother calling her in Tony's office? "This is Dessler."

"Your brother Danny is here to see you."

_Oh my God! How could he have come here!_ "Uh, okay, show him to my station. I'll be right down."

_What am I going to do? I can't have family coming into my workplace, especially in the middle of a crisis. What the hell was he thinking! What if he saw Carrie- oh no, that would cause a war._

She was so intent on her thoughts that she hung up the phone and almost walked right past Tony. She stopped just in time and asked, "Are we okay here?"

"Yeah," he said, obviously curious as to what was going on, but didn't press her.

Michelle hurried down to her station and prayed she could get Danny out of here. Two guards escorted him in. "Hey, hey, little sister," he said with a smile, rushing up to her.

"Thanks for bringing him in," she said to the guards.

Danny hugged her and she pulled back as she smelled how drunk he was. "Hey."

"How are you?" Danny asked, pulling back also and looking down at her. "You, uh, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Danny. What are you doing here?"

Danny kept looking around as he talked, obviously distracted by the chaos in the place. They were operational and working, but to an outsider, this place was a wreck. "I wanted to—I wanted to talk to you."

Michelle tried to get him to focus on her, so she put her hands on his arms. "We were talking and then you hung up on me."

"I know, I know," he said, "And I tried to call you back but—but the phones, they weren't working."

She shook her head. "Yeah, so you came here at 2:30 in the morning. Look, Danny, I don't have time for this right now."

"No, listen, no," he said and put his hands on the side of her face. "'Cause I wanted to apologize to you face-to-face. I---I'm sorry that I yelled at you before. I'm sorry."

She nodded, knowing she had to get him out of here now. "Okay, apology accepted. But you have to go now, okay?"

He pretended like he didn't hear her. "It's just this whole thing with the bomb, you know, and it's not just me. A lot of people out there are—are freaked, 'cause they're afraid of what's gonna happen next. Nobody knows what to do, you know?"

She could see he was scared and tried to soften her tone. "It's gonna be okay."

"Yeah?" he asked.

She nodded and put her hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. We're taking care of things here."

He smiled. "No, I know, I know. I know you are. Okay."

He turned and froze. She put her hand on his neck and tried to redirect his attention to her. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep? I'll come over as soon as I can."

He continued to stare at something behind her and to her left. She turned and saw Tony and Carrie in conversation. _Oh no!_ "Look, ignore her."

"You didn't tell me Carrie worked here," he accused her.

"No, she's not working here. We were shorthanded. She came here a couple of hours ago."

He moved off to go towards Carrie. Michelle grabbed his arm, "Danny, please."

Danny started yelling at Carrie. "You don't return my calls? I called you five times."

Michelle closed her eyes in agony, but kept her grip on Danny's arm. He moved them both directly over to Carrie and Tony.

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"Don't worry about it. My sister works here," he said, brushing Tony off and looking at Carrie.

Michelle didn't dare look at Tony. She was horrified about what was happening.

"Look, I've been in the middle of things right now, Danny," Carrie said to him.

"Is that right?" Danny asked. "Cause--- because I was just worried about you, that's all. I was hoping that maybe you would be worried about me, too."

Michelle jumped between him and Carrie. She looked in his face and yelled, "Danny, stop!"

"Stop? Why? What, are you taking Carrie's side now?" he yelled.

"Of course I'm not taking her side." She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away. "Just come to my station---"

Carrie started to go away and Danny went after her. "Hey,hey,hey! Come here. I want to talk to you!"

"Danny!" Michelle screamed.

Danny cornered Carrie against the wall and grabbed her by the throat. Michelle tried desperately to move him off her, but didn't have the strength to. Tony pushed Michelle aside and grabbed Danny up, pulling him off and right into the arms of the security guards.

"Hey, get your hands off me!" Danny yelled. "Tell him I'm your brother, Michelle! Help!"

Michelle put her hands over her face in horror as the guards took him away. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Tony called the medics to check out Carrie and make sure she was okay. Michelle moved away from them and leaned one arm against the wall, shocked.

She watched as the medics examined Carrie's throat and knew she had to get away for a moment. She turned and went down a nearby hallway, praying no one would follow her. She stared at the ceiling and tried to blink away tears.

What would happen now? Carrie could easily press charges against Danny and he couldn't afford that. He might try to commit suicide again. She swallowed a sob and tried to steady her breathing.

She couldn't do this anymore. It was too much for her. The bomb, so many people dead today, working against Tony about this recording, and now this. She was terrified and couldn't stay professional any more.

_Get a grip on yourself, Michelle! You still have a job to do._

She heard crutches and knew Tony had followed her. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, knowing she couldn't deal with him right now. She'd end up doing something stupid. She didn't want him to see her break down.

"Michelle?" he asked softly as he rounded the corner.

She backed against the wall and tried to brush her tears away. He stopped in front of her. "Where you going?"

"Ah, I was just going over to I.T," she lied. "I'm still trying to access the C.B.P. software."

"I.T.'s the other way," he pointed out.

_Damn it! _ She took a deep breath and looked away. "I just—I just need a minute, Tony." Her voice broke and she hated herself for it.

His expression softened. He put his crutches against the wall beside her and moved closer to him. "Hey," he whispered. "Carrie's gonna be fine."

Michelle felt her lip trembling and tried to stop it. "Is she--- is she gonna press charges?"

"No, I don't think so."

She lowered her head, sniffed and shook her head. "It's all my fault. I should have seen it coming."

Tony sighed. "It's family. Things happen. You can't see it coming."

Michelle looked deep into his eyes, relieved he understood. She felt more tears well up. "He's my brother. I mean, his kids---" she stopped and swallowed the tears. "Maybe I should have told him about the bomb."

She lowered her head as the tears began to fall again. Tony leaned closer. "It was a tough choice, but you made it. And by the way, you were right."

She chuckled bitterly, exhaling a sob. "No. Nothing I've done today is right. I—"

"Michelle," he said softly.

"All these people today… dead. And then, this recording, I mean, I don't know if we're right about that. I just—I can't--- I can't do this anymore, Tony. I can't," she cried, her breathing irregular.

"Oh, Michelle, come here, come here," he whispered, pulling her into a hug.

She clung to him and cried, feeling safe and comforted by his body. "I'm so tired. I'm so scared."

"Shh… it's okay," he whispered, rubbing her back. "It's okay."

She pushed away from him and wiped her face, sniffling, and feeling very embarrassed.

"All right?" he asked, putting his hand up to her cheek and rubbing his thumb across her skin.

Michelle's tears still fell, but she looked up into his eyes and saw something there. Deep, raw emotion. Longing, passion. She felt her pulse jump and before she knew what she was going, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him with everything she had in her. Her hand caressed his face and her body pressed into his ever so slightly. She couldn't believe she was doing this, but God, she was enjoying it.

After a moment she pushed away slightly, reality trying to set in. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she whispered breathlessly, afraid of what she was going and how he'd react.

He didn't say a word, but grabbed the back of her head and kissed her more passionately. She couldn't believe he was kissing her back! Her hand moved in and out of his hair, along his neck. She had dreamed about kissing Tony for the longest time and couldn't believe it was actually happening. In the back hallway of C.T.U. no less, and in the middle of a national crisis.

She felt his longing for her as he kissed her and she melted into his embrace. She didn't know which one of them did, but eventually they broke the kiss. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her, his eyes dark and sensual. His hand was still caressing the side of her head softly.

He looked deeply into her eyes and raised his hand to cup the back of her head again. He started to kiss her again, but before either one of them could make a move, a voice broke into their moment. "Tony, Chappelle's looking for it."

It was Carrie, of all people.

"Yeah, okay," he said, his voice deeper than usual.

Michelle moved out of his arms and against the wall. She heard Carrie move on and then Tony's eyes moved back to hers. She couldn't read what was in there. He didn't say a word, but grabbed his crutches and moved away.

She couldn't breathe. She closed her eyes and tried to calm down. She had dreamed of this moment forever, and now it was interrupted by her of all people. What did Tony think? He obviously was caught up in the moment too, but did that mean he really wanted it to happen? Wouldn't he have say something to her?

_Oh God, what have I done?_

Tony walked up to his office, his heart still racing. He couldn't believe he had just kissed Michelle! Her vulnerability had touched something in him, and made him want to hold her, comfort her. Her nearness sparked something between them, and he loved how she felt in his arms when he hugged her. She needed him at that moment and he hadn't felt more useful all day than he did at that moment. And when she pulled away from him and stared into his eyes, he knew if she hadn't kissed him, he would have kissed her. His entire body felt like it had been hit by a jolt of electricity when her lips touched his. Her passion and desire ignited his. He could have kissed her forever.

And then Carrie. She would be a problem, too. She'd exploit this for sure. Not that he cared. She was already a pain in the ass. He could handle her for another couple of hours.

He sat down in his chair and picked up the phone to call Chappelle, his boss. _What did he want at almost three in the morning?_

"Chappelle."

"Ryan, its Tony Almeida. I was told you were trying to reach me," he said, watching as Michelle walked back to her station.

"Thanks for getting back to me so soon," he said. "Congratulations on the promotion."

Tony sighed. "I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"Yeah," Chappelle agreed. "Mason was a good man."

"Yeah, he was." Tony wasn't in the mood to keep this up. "Look, Ryan, uh, we're pretty busy around here."

"Yeah, I just wanted to give you a heads-up."

Tony's stomach sank. "About what?"

"I'm on my way over with a couple of keys from Division."

_Damn it_. "Why?"

"I thought you could use some help with all that's going on," he said.

Tony knew it was a lost cause, but said anyway, "We're going pretty well here, Ryan, thanks."

"I'm sure you are," he agreed. "I'll see you in thirty minutes."

Chappelle hung up before Tony could say anything else. He shut off the satcom phone and rubbed his face. He stared down at Michelle, sitting at her station. He dialed her extension.

"Dessler," she said softly.

"Hey," he said. He was unsure of what to say next, so asked, "So, uh, have you heard anything about your brother yet?"

"Yeah. They sedated him. They said they'd call me when he wakes up."

She sounded so defeated, so tired. "How're you holding up?" he asked.

"Okay," she said. "You?"

"I'm okay."

He heard her sigh and say, "Listen, um, about what happened before, um, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have---"

She didn't understand how he felt. "No, don't, don't. Don't be sorry. I'm not."

He watched as she turned around and looked up at him, her eyes wide. "You're not?"

"No," he said softly.

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded and said, "Really."

She stared at him for a second, her heart is her eyes, and then turned back to her computer. "What about Carrie?"

"Don't worry about Carrie," he assured her.

"No, I know her. She's not gonna let this go."

"Look, it's none of her business. It's gonna be okay," he insisted, trying to reduce some of the stress on her.

"All right."

Tony hung up and hoped he was right.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Michelle was hard at work, feeling a little light-hearted for the first time all day, when she looked up to see Ryan Chappelle, Tony's boss, walk in the door with some men.

"Mr. Chappelle," Michelle said, surprised to see him. She stood up in case he needed any help.

"Hi Michelle. Is Tony in his office?"

"Uh, he went to I.T. He'll be back in a minute," she explained, falling into step with him.

Chappelle started grilling her. "What's the status on the phones?"

"Grid's down over most of the city."

"How about wireless?"

"No, cell service is pretty much out too," she said, shaking her head.

"You using satcom?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Save satcom for your highest priorities," he ordered. "We're sharing it with half a dozen other agencies."

"Okay."

Chappelle moved on, seeing Tony. "Tony!"

"Hey Ryan," she heard him say. She moved back to her desk, seeing Chappelle was done with her.

Tony hated seeing Chappelle come in. He was such a prick. And now he was his direct superior. _Damn!_ One major drawback to the promotion.

"Good work," Chappelle said.

"Uh, good work on what?"

"I know Bauer's trying to change our position on the Cyprus audio," he said.

Tony smirked and said, "That's not exactly true."

"Whatever," Chappelle shrugged. "You don't have to explain. I'm just glad you're not letting the tail wag the dog."

Tony looked over to where Michelle sat and sighed. "Ryan, uh, Jack may not be wrong about this. He's in the middle of an investigation---"

"I don't want to hear that," he interrupted. "Look, we're about to bomb the Middle East into next Wednesday. We're supposed to be processing intel to support that operation."

"And I've got most of my people on it already," Tony replied.

"I want all of your people on it!" Chappelle ordered.

Tony sighed and leaned on his crutches for a moment. "Ryan, don't you think we need to eliminate any reasonable doubt about the authenticity of this recording?"

"Your department has already authenticated that recording," he reminded him. "Don't make me the bad guy here, Tony. George Mason may have recommended you to direct C.T.U., but you'll need my blessing to stay on. I assume that's what you want."

Tony couldn't believe this guy. He looked into his eyes and said, "What I want is to do what's right in this situation."

"What's right is to follow the chain of command. Put everyone on domestic response."

Tony watched Chappelle walk away and then turned to look at Michelle. She was looking at him and gave him a look that he knew all too well. She couldn't have heard what Chappelle said, but she knew Chappelle as well as he did. She knew it wasn't good.

Tony gave a damn what Chappelle thought right now. He wasn't going to give up on Jack.

It was exactly 3:35am when they finally heard from Jack. Michelle remembered looking at her watch at the same time the phone rang.

"C.T.U. Dessler."

"Mich---, it's Ja--- need--- speak---Tony."

"Ja—Jack?" she asked, the static on the line too loud for her to hear correctly. "Jack?"

The line went dead, but Michelle was sure it had been Jack. She set her computer up to do an autotrace and then ran up to Tony's office. "Tony."

"What's up?" he said, looking up from looking at some intel reports.

"A call just came though. I think it was Jack."

"What did he say?"

"We lost the signal," she said, frustrated.

"You try him back?"

"Yeah, I put an autotrace on the number in case he gets through again."

Tony nodded. "All right, go to dispatch. See if they picked it up in a log. Find out if it was a cell or a landline."

"Okay," she said, moving out of Tony's office and down to dispatch. She got some information from them regarding the call, but she couldn't tell Tony yet. She could see Chappelle in his office. She knew Tony'd check with her as soon as he was done.

Five minutes later he came hobbling over in his crutches. She wondered briefly if his ankle was still giving him pain or not.

"So, uh, what'd you find out from dispatch?" he asked.

"Well, Jack called me from a cell," she said, moving from one computer to another to show him on the map. "Came from somewhere between Encino and Studio City."

"Okay, so he was at an urgent care center right around here about two hours ago," Tony said, pointing to the screen.

Michelle felt her pulse spike a little as Tony was leaning so close to her. _Focus, focus._ "Yeah."

"If he was coming to C.T.U., he probably would have taken then 101 or the 5," Tony remarked.

"Do you want me to pull up a satellite?" she asked.

"No, that'll just raise a red flag with Chappelle, and that's the last thing I need right now," he said quietly, looking up at where Chappelle was coming down the stairs.

"What about police channels? I mean, even if he couldn't contact us, maybe he tried someone local," she said, also watching Chappelle.

"Can you monitor those without being detected?" he asked.

She sighed. "Yeah."

He nodded and agreed, "All right. Focus on the downtown precincts."

"Okay," she said, watching him take his crutches and move off. She allowed herself one moment to admire him from the back and then started to do as he asked.

Tony was leaning over his old desk down on the floor, flipping through intel reports that Chappelle asked him to review, when Carrie came over to him. She folded her arms across her chest and said quietly, "Chappelle's going to find out."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, wondering if she meant the kiss she observed between him and Michelle, or if she knew they were still working on Jack.

"Well, he told you not to waste any more time looking for Jack," she said. "But that's all you and Michelle are doing right now."

Tony straightened up, glad it wasn't about the kiss, and said directly, "Why aren't you working on the field intel?"

"Don't shine me on, Tony. I'm just trying to help you keep your job."

Now that was amusing. "Really? By doing what?"

"Not saying anything."

He nodded. "Okay. Then don't say anything." He leaned back over the desk, going back to his reports.

She leaned over him. "Um, I want something in return."

_Now how did I know that was coming?_ He straightened back up and looked her in the eye. "And what would that be?"

"Michelle worked for me at District. Things worked much better that way," she said. "Ah, she's not qualified to be my boss. That's why things have been so messed up here tonight."

_What a surprise_. "So, uh, you want Michelle's job. Is that what this is about?"

"Yes. And I assume you want to keep yours."

He nodded. "Yeah." _Like I had to think twice about this. Nice try, Carrie._

"Mr. Chappelle," he yelled over to him. "Could you come over here a second?"

He looked over at him. "What do you need, Almeida?"

"Carrie's got something she wants to tell you," Tony said, looking directly at Carrie and enjoying her surprised reaction. Did she really think he'd fire Michelle to save his own job?

Chappelle finished up his conversation and walked over. Tony had called Carrie's bluff, but he knew she'd tell on him. That was the type of person she was, but right now Tony didn't care. He could stand up to Chappelle.

Tony stared her in the eye as they waited for Chappelle. She was taken aback by his actions, he knew.

"What is it, Carrie?" Chappelle asked as he got close enough.

She didn't say anything. Tony looked at her and motioned with his face and head for her to go on.

"Well?" asked Chappelle.

Tony explained, "Carrie was trying to extort a promotion out of me by promising to keep her mouth shut. That about right?" he asked her.

"Mouth shut about what?" Chappelle asked.

Carrie finally spoke up, "He and Michelle are still trying to find Jack Bauer. I was just trying to give Tony the courtesy of a warning. I was going to tell you, Mr. Chap---"

"That's enough, Carrie. Get back to work," Chappelle said, dismissing her.

She walked away and Chappelle turned on Tony. "I thought I made myself clear, Tony. We're past Bauer."

Tony sighed. "No, sir, you are. I'm not. Now, I'm still Director of C.T.U. and I'm allocating reasonable resources to insure that we have all the facts. Now, if you're not comfortable with me making my own decisions I suggest you relieve me of my duties right now."

Chappelle stared at him a second, and then said, "That won't be necessary."

"Thank you, sir," Tony said, relieved that his standing up to Chappelle actually worked in his favor.

"Don't thank me. I just don't have anybody to take your place right now." He leaned a little closer and said, "I don't like insubordination."

Tony watched him walk off, wondering if he had just sealed his fate. Chappelle may not have anyone to replace him tonight, but that didn't mean he wouldn't tomorrow when things were over.

_Oh well, at least I'll be able to live with myself._

Michelle needed to eat or she wouldn't be able to keep going. She quickly walked to the lunchroom and looked in the freezer to see if she had any frozen dinners left. She normally brought several in since her cooking skills were practically non-existent. She pulled spaghetti and meatballs out, slipped it into the microwave and leaned against the counter to wait. How was Tony able to keep going without eating? The last time he probably ate was when he went out to pick up Bob Warner and Reza Naiyeer, which was many hours ago. She walked over to the vending machine in the corner and bought a bag of Combos, pretzels and a coke for him. Whether he even realized it or not, he had to be starving. Although junk food wasn't the answer, it would give him some much needed energy right now.

Michelle stood at the counter and practically inhaled her frozen dinner. She snuck the food up to Tony's office, putting a sticky note saying 'Enjoy dinner!' with a smiley face on it. She knew he'd recognize her handwriting.

She was back in her chair, realizing the entire eating experience took only ten minutes. She was sure to be sick from it later, but at least it was helping her now.

Her phone rang. "C.T.U. Dessler."

"Michelle, it's Jack."

"Jack, where are you?" she asked quietly, afraid Carrie or Chappelle would hear.

"At Kate Warner's house," he said. "I have the chip. Can you get Tony on the line also?"

"Yeah, hold on a minute," she said. She looked up and saw Tony nearby. She jumped up and went over to him. "Tony, phones are up. I've got Jack Bauer on line two," she whispered.

"Where is he?" Tony asked, his spirits jumping up.

"He's at Kate Warner's house."

"What's he doing there?"

"I don't know, but he has the chip," she said quietly, looking around.

"Okay. Conference the call into my office," he whispered.

"Okay."

Tony hurried to his office as quickly as the crutches and his foot would allow him. He grabbed the phone. "Jack, it's Tony. What are you doing at Kate Warner's house? You were supposed to bring that chip here over an hour ago."

Tony glanced down and saw the snacks and coke on his desk. Michelle. He smiled, pleased by her thoughtfulness. He definitely could use some food right now.

"We ran into some interference," Jack said. "Yusuf Auda is dead."

This brought Tony back to the conversation. He glanced down into the bullpen where Michelle was also listening in. He saw the surprised look on her face. "What happened?"

"I don't have time to explain but he's the only reason why we've still got the chip," Jack said solemnly. "Look, I'm trying to read it now. I've put in a flash-card adapter, but something's not working."

"Jack, this is Michelle. Just give me a minute. You may be able to override the reader function manually. I'll talk you through it."

Tony opened the coke and took a drink. Ah, caffeine. He had been running off aderaline for so long that it felt good to have some other stimulant. He opened the bag of Combos and popped one in his mouth.

"Okay, good," Jack said. "Tony, while she's getting set up, I need you to do a couple of things for me. I want you to run a background check on the name Peter Kingsley. It's probably an alias, but we might get lucky. I want you to cross-reference it with every major player in the oil industry."

"Peter Kingsley? Why?" asked Tony.

"I'll explain it to you later," Jack said again. "First, I need you to get in touch with the president. Tell him we've got the evidence he needs."

Tony cut in, "I already told him, and I just found out that he's called off the military strikes."

"Good!" Jack said. "Then we've got some time."

"Not necessarily, Jack," Tony went on. "Chappelle just told me he expects the order to be reversed."

"Why?" Jack asked, the frustration in his voice evident.

"He didn't get specific, but, ah, something's going on in Washington," Tony said. "Something we're not supposed to know about."

Jack didn't say anything for a minute, and then went on, "Michelle, are you ready for me?"

"Yeah," she said and started giving him instructions.

Tony stopped paying attention to their part of the conversation and started thinking about what could be happening to the president right now. He absently ate his Combos, his mind running in a million different directions.

He came back to the present just as Michelle was finishing up. "Hit Control C.X. dash five, then hit enter."

"Done."

"Anything?" she asked.

"I think it's reading it," Jack said. "No, all I'm getting are numbers and symbols."

Tony heard Michelle sigh. "All right, Jack, take out the chip, make sure the leads are exposed."

"Damn it!" Jack exploded.

"What is it?" asked Tony.

"The chip is damaged."

"How badly?" he asked, feeling his stomach sink.

"I'm not sure," Jack admitted. "Part of the microprocessor is gone, and the leads that were connected to it."

"Okay, Jack, whatever data you have, send it to my screen. I'll run it through the retrieval program here."

"Will you be able to access a complete audio file?" Jack asked.

"If it's on there, I'll find it," promised Michelle.

Tony put their call on hold and dialed I.T. "This is Almeida. Listen, ah, send two of our guys up here right away, would you?"

"They're all doing M.I. for Chappelle," the woman at the other end said.

"Look, I don't care what they're doing, I need two I.T. people up here right away," Tony ordered.

"Chappelle specifically---"

"Just do it," he said as his other line started ringing. "I've got to go, all right."

He switched lines. "Almeida."

"Tony, hi, it's Kim. Look, I haven't been able to reach my dad. Uh, is he available?"

Tony exhaled a breath. "Kim, we're in the middle of something really important right now. Can I have him get back to you?"

"Tony, please, it'll just take a minute," she pleaded.

"Okay. Okay, just hold on." Tony couldn't access the phone line again from his office, so he went down to Michelle's station and waited for a lull in the conversation.

"Hey Jack. I just assigned two I.T. people to help Michelle with this," explained Tony. "We should be able to get through in about 15, 20 minutes, tops."

"Okay good."

"Also, I got Kim on the line for you."

"Thank you, Tony."

Tony spoke to Kim, "Kim, I got your dad on the line. Go ahead."

Tony put the phone down to give Jack and Km privacy to talk. He started to speak to Michelle about the likelihood of retrieving the data when Chappelle came walking up.

"I just heard you ordered two I.T.s onto some kind of retrieval project," Chappelle said. "They were working on military intel."

Tony turned to him. Why did everything today have to be fought after so much? Couldn't something come easy? "Jack Bauer has a chip. It contains an audio file that we expect will prove that the Cyprus audio was indeed forged."

"Where is this chip?"

Tony looked away. "It's been damaged."

"Damaged?"

"Jack sent us the data, but it's pretty messed up. The audio file needs to be reconstituted, which is gonna take a little time," Tony explained.

"How long?"

"However long it takes," Tony gritted his teeth, trying not to be disrespectful but tired of Chappelle's attitude.

Michelle walked over to them and put in, "It should take about fifteen minutes, sir."

Michelle didn't have time to try to overhear the rest of Tony and Chappelle's conversation. That data was badly corrupted and she needed to devote all her energy to it. One of the I.T. guys called her with an update.

It wasn't good news. "The audio files are gone. There are just some markers that repeat, that's all."

"All right. Thanks, Jason." She hung up; felt Tony's presence beside her, but didn't want to look at him in defeat.

"He didn't find anything either?" Tony guessed.

She shook her head no, staring at the screen, her mind deep in thought. There had to be some way to retrieve those files!

Chappelle had to walk up at that moment. "Well, what have you got?"

Tony turned to him and said, "The chip was more compromised than we thought."

"Do you have the audio file?" he asked.

Tony looked at Michelle. "Well, Michelle was able to recover some information worth following up on."

"Repeating code fragments," she put in. "It may tell us who programmed the information."

"Did you find the audio file or not? That's all I need to know." Chappelle demanded.

Michelle bit her lip. "No, we didn't."

Chappelle nodded and said, "So, Bauer wasted our time."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Tony picked up the phone to call Jack and inform him of their findings. Jack would even be more disappointed then they were, considering the hell he'd probably been through to get that chip.

Michelle clipped on a headset and nodded she was ready.

"Jack, it's Tony and Michelle," Tony said.

"You got the audio file?"

"No."

"What do you mean, 'No'?" Jack asked, his voice laced with aggravation. "Are you telling me that there's no audio file on that chip?"

"If there were, they were destroyed when the chip was damaged," Michelle explained.

"Look, Jack, Chappelle's phoning the president. He wants you on the call," Tony said.

"Yeah, I bet he does!" Jack said sarcastically.

"Also, uh, some of the information Michelle was able to recover may be worth looking into," Tony went on.

"What kind of information?"

Michelle explained, "Identical code fragments at the tail end of several data streams."

"What are you talking about? What kind of fragments? What are the fragments for?"

"Nothing. That's the point. It's junk code. Programmers and hackers sometimes embed it into their programs as a marker, a signature," she said.

"Michelle was able to trace the sequence back to a hacker named Alex Hewitt," Tony put in. "He's got a file with the F.B.I."

"Are you telling me you think this is the technician that created the Cyprus audio file?" asked Jack.

Michelle answered, "Yes."

"Chappelle's not going to let us follow up on any more leads, so you're gonna have to talk to this guy on your own."

"Fine. What's his last known address?"

"210 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood.," Tony told him.

"Okay, I got it. I'll get back to you," Jack said.

"All right," Tony said.

Michelle looked at him and exhaled deeply. Tony lifted his brows and shrugged. They had to sit and wait now.

He grabbed his crutches and started to move away, then turned back. "Hey," he said, getting her attention again.

"Yeah?"

He gave her a little smile. "Thanks for dinner."

She smiled back at him and whispered, "You're welcome."

It was a little after five in the morning when Chappelle called them all into a meeting. Michelle worked her way close to Tony, leaned in and asked, "Do you know why Chappelle called this meeting?"

"No. He just told everybody to save their work and get in here," he answered.

Chappelle came into the conference room and said, "The information you are about to receive is confidential. It'll stay inside until it's been made public, which should be in the next few hours. The cabinet has invoked the 25th Amendment and removed David Palmer from office. Jim Prescott is now the president."

"Why?" asked Tony.

"That isn't relevant to our charge."

Tony disagreed. "Yes, it is, Ryan."

"What's your problem, Almeida?"

"I think we all know that President Palmer was removed because he didn't want to go on with the bombings. That makes what Jack Bauer's doing even more relevant."

Chappelle dismissed that idea. "Bauer has cried wolf twice already. He's come up with nothing. I have a standing order from District that disallows any further resources from being expended on him."

"Why is everybody so afraid to look at all sides of this thing?" Tony asked incredulously. "What if Jack Bauer's right? What if that Cyprus recording was forged, and we're about to bomb three innocent countries? Are you going to tell me that's not relevant?"

"Tony, let me first say that your office has done a remarkable job today. There is no way that the people on the Hill are not going to reward every one of you for the role you played in averting disaster."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" asked Tony, practically growling at Chappelle.

"Let me finish," Chappelle snapped. "The success of this office today is due in large part to the technical team. The same team that has concluded that the Cyrus audio is an untreated, unforged original. There comes a time when you have to let go. Not every hunch works out. Bauer's chasing a ghost. I can't put it any simpler than that. That's all."

Tony and Michelle stayed behind as everyone else filed out.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked him.

"I don't know. I have to talk to somebody in Prescott's staff. If and when Jack comes in here with the evidence we have to have somebody in place to take it to."

Michelle knew how risky this would be. "Be careful, Tony. If Chappelle finds out you're doing an end run---"

"I know," he whispered. "I know."

Thirty minutes later Jack had the programmer of the audio file and needed him brought in. Tony would need to get a chopper to pick him up, something he knew Chappelle would not allow him to do. However, he had to try.

"Jack Bauer just contacted us," Tony said to Chappelle.

"Really? Where is he?" Chappelle asked.

"North Hollywood."

"What's he doing?"

Tony glanced away a second and then back at his boss. "He's got the guy who forged the Cyprus recording. He wants to bring him in."

"Fine, let him."

"Ryan, he's too far away. We need to send a chopper," Tony said.

"We've been through this, Tony. I'm done with Bauer. He's chasing a trail that leads nowhere. We're on to other things."

"Ryan, what could be more important that keeping the U.S. from launching military strikes based on false information?" Tony exploded.

"The thing is, Tony, you've been reassigned."

"Reassigned? Where?"

"I'll let you know in a few days. For now, you can go home."

Tony's heart fell. "Ryan, you can't reassign me now."

"This recording is real. We are going to war. We need to prepare for the domestic response. You have made yourself a liability I just can't afford. You've got fifteen minutes to clean out your desk and get out."

Tony stared after him. How was he going to get out of this?

Michelle watched as Tony started back to his office. She made sure Chappelle was going the other way before making her way to Tony's office.

"What's going on?" she asked, watching as he picked up his laptop cause and placed it on this desk.

"I'm out. Chappelle reassigned me."

"He just reassigned you? He didn't give any explanation?" Michelle asked, amazed he would do that at a critical moment like this.

Tony looked up at her and gave her a crooked smile. "Chappelle doesn't want me on the job. He's got his own people, and I'm not one of them."

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

His phone rang, but he ignored it. Michelle glanced at the phone and said, "Tony, it's satcom."

Tony leaned over to grab it. It might be Jack. "Almeida."

"Mr. Almeida. This is David Palmer."

"Mr. President. What can I do for you, sir?" Tony asked, surprised he was calling.

"I need to speak to Jack Bauer. Do you know how to reach him?"

"Can you hold on, sir?"

"For a moment."

Tony put the president on hold and dialed Jack's cell. "Jack, it's Tony. I have President Palmer on the line for you."

"Okay, good, patch him through," Jack said. "Tony, how we going on the chopper?"

"I'm working on it." Tony had no clue how he was going to do this now that Chappelle basically fired him.

"Work faster!"

"All right, here's the president. Mr. President, I have Jack on the line. Jack, go ahead."

Tony listened to the conversation as Jack updated the president on the progress they have made. When they were through, Jack stayed on the line. "Tony, you still on the line?"

"I'm here."

"Tony, can you hear me?"

Tony spoke a little louder. "Yeah. Go ahead, Jack."

"We need that chopper now."

"I understand. You'll have it."

"Thank you."

Tony hung up and sighed, leaning over the table. He was going to have to take Chappelle out of play to make this happen. After a moment he looked up at Michelle and said, "I'm gonna need your help."

"You got it. What are you going to do?"

"I have to take Chappelle out of play," Tony said. "It's the only way we're going to be able to help Jack."

"Get him out of play how?" Michelle asked.

Tony sighed. "I'll drug him, keep him sedated until Jack is back here."

"Tony!" Michelle whispered urgently. "Chappelle will definitely fire you for this, if not arrest you."

"I know," Tony agreed. "But we have no choice. I hate to get you involved, but I'll need you to tell Chappelle to go to holding room two. I'll handle it from there."

He watched as she nodded immediately and turned to go. He reached out and grabbed her arm. "Michelle, thank you."

She smiled sweetly and walked downstairs. Tony headed to medical.

Michelle understood the reasoning behind Tony's plan, but was worried it would backfire. Wouldn't they miss him? She waited at her desk, aimlessly working on some report, until Tony was ready. Finally her phone rang.

"Dessler."

"You ready?" Tony asked.

"Yeah."

"All right. Let's go."

Michelle hung up and dialed Chappelle's line. "Yeah?" he said.

"Sir, Rudin needs you. He's in holding room two."

"Tell him to call me."

"The com's out in that room," Michelle said.

"All right," he sighed. "I'm on my way."

Michelle hung up and walked towards the holding room. When Chappelle came into the room he asked her, "Where's Rudin?"

Tony grabbed him from behind and held the handkerchief over his mouth. He held him until Chappelle quit struggling and passed out. Tony looked up at Michelle, panting. "I got this. Go send that chopper to pick up Jack."

Once Tony administered the drug to keep Chappelle asleep for a while, he called Jack. "The chopper's about to leave. E.T.A.'s about twenty minutes."

"So Chappelle's on board with this?"

"Not exactly," Tony said, looking down at the unconscienous form of his boss.

"What do you mean?"

"Jack, it's better if you don't know."

"Okay, fine, Tony, you're going to have to get the attorney general involved in this."

"What for?"

"Mrs. Palmer's going to want to try and cut a deal."

"A deal?" _What did she have any involvement in this for?_

"Hewitt's testimony incriminates her."

Wow. Didn't _Sherry Palmer have enough drama from last year_? "All right, look, I'll make sure everything's in place."

"This thing's got to go like clockwork. There's no margin for error here."

"Yeah, I know." Tony said and hung up.

Michelle was trying to act like there was nothing wrong, but her heart was beating a mile a minute. She knew she and Tony were going to be in huge trouble when Chappelle was found. They could only hope that by then Jack's evidence would be here and they would be forgiven for being right.

It was six in the morning when Michelle checked up on Chappelle. He was out cold, but looked like he was starting to wake up a little. She locked the holding room again and found Tony. He was moving without his crutches now, but still had his foot in the soft cast.

"How's Chappelle doing?"

"He's still unconscious, but he's starting to stir," she said.

"Yeah. The drug I gave him is short-acting. I'm gonna have to give him another shot soon," Tony said casually.

How long can you keep pumping him full of that stuff?" she asked, scared of permanently hurting the man.

"Well, we only have to keep him on ice long enough for Jack to deliver Hewitt," Tony reassured her. "How we coming on the chopper?"

She sighed. "It should land at Hewitt's in ten minutes. We should get Hewitt here in half an hour."

"Good."

"What about Carrie? Is she asking about Chappelle?"

"Not yet, no. I have her working on image processing. Should keep her busy for a while."

"Excuse me, Mr. Almeida," Robert called out to him. "Brad Hammond from Division in on the line for Mr. Chappelle. Do you know where he is?"

"No, look I'll take it. Thanks," Tony said and took the phone. "Mr. Hammond? This is Tony Almeida. How can I help you sir?"

"Where's Ryan?" he asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure."

"His office says he arrived at C.T.U. three hours ago, but none of your people can find him."

"He must have stepped out," Tony lied.

"Your office doesn't have him logging out. Did he say where he was going?"

"Not to me, sir, no, but tell you what, I'll let you know as soon as I find him."

"No, Mr. Almeida, you'll let me know what's going on over there," he demanded. "I know Ryan Chappelle was going over there to assess the situation and I cannot think of a reason he would be out of contact during a national crisis."

"Mr. Hammond, I'm sorry. I've told you all that I know, sir," he lied again. "But I'll make sure Ryan calls you as soon as he returns."

"You do that."

"Thank you, sir."

He turned back to Michelle. She asked, "What's going on?"

"Division knows something's up."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"Well, we gotta get Alex Hewitt here as quickly as possible."

Tony knew Divison wouldn't let up and they were running out of time. "Michelle, I'm going to send you out to work at an off-site location. Give me a couple of minutes to get it together, but Hammond will no doubt come here looking for Chappelle. When they find him, I'm going to be arrested. I need you to disappear from here so you can continue to help Jack."

He saw the worry in her eyes, but she nodded. "No problem."

He touched her hand gently. "I'll get back to you. Just get ready to move soon."

Five minutes later Jack called him. "Almeida."

"Tony, it's Jack. Hewitt's been hurt. I need emergency medical assistance on the roof of his loft now."

"Jack, there's no E.M.T. on the chopper, but they do have a med kit on board. Can you handle it?"

"I don't know. I hope so," Jack said, panting and sounding very upset. It had to be bad. "Look, I gotta get back to this."

"Wait a second, wait a second," Tony said.

"What?"

"Look, uh, you may not be able to contact me after this."

"Why?"

"Well, Chappelle became a problem, so, uh, I had to take him out of play. And they're on to me now. It's only a matter of time before they take me out."

"Who do I contact if I need help?"

"I'm sending Michelle out to the field to set up an off-site station. Uh, she's going to do whatever she can by remote access. She'll be on a closed cell. Channel B, node 12-12."

"B, node 12-12. Okay, I got it."

"Good luck, Jack."

Tony got the stuff he needed for Michelle and started walking out towards the exit. She saw him moving, grabbed her jacket and followed him.

"This'll get you into the van," he said, holding an access card in his hand.

She grabbed it. "How am I going to break through the firewall?"

"Uh, this has a range of a few blocks. It's Hoffman encoded. It'll get you in," he explained, handing her another card. "Give me a call when you're set, all right?"

Michelle went out to the garage, aggravated from another run-in with Carrie. She was going to be a problem, more than usual. She climbed inside the van and set up her system. The vehicle was one of their many communications van, so it was fully loaded with whatever she'd need.

She called Tony to let him know. "It's me. I'm in place."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in the north lot. Van 15-A. Listen, Tony, Carrie's on to us. She was asking about Chappelle."

"What'd you tell her?" he asked.

"That I didn't know what she was talking about. But we need her out of the way. Keep her occupied."

"Okay, I'll handle it," he promised. "Look, set up and get a hold of Jack. I got to go. Hammond's here."

Michelle smelled trouble.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tony hung up with Michelle and headed for Hammond, who was walking through the door. "Mr. Hammond."

"Tony."

"What are you doing here, sir?"

"I told you on the phone. I think there's a problem here. Where's Ryan Chappelle?"

"I haven't seen him yet, sir."

"I see," Hammond said. He looked at his men and said, "Two of you take this side. I want this section covered."

"What are you doing?" asked Tony.

"I'm locking you down."

"Locking us down? Sir, we're in the middle of preparing a domestic response to this war."

"That's not what I heard," Hammond said. "I heard your supporting a rogue agent against Division orders."

"And where did you hear that?"

"From one of your own people."

_Carrie! That bitch! _ He looked over and saw her standing against a wall, watching him. There was no doubt about that.

He knew it was a matter of time before Chappelle was discovered and he was arrested. Then they would go searching for Michelle. He hoped there was enough time for her to get the information Jack needed.

Not ten minutes passed before they found Chappelle on the floor of the holding room, conscious and disoriented. He remembered everything that had happened and had Carrie call the chopper back, even though it was currently landing at Jack's location.

_Son of a bitch!_ Tony seethed. The chopper was one minute away from picking Jack up. One minute!

Jack called Michelle. "Where are you?" she asked.

"I'm on my way back to Hewitt's loft. I want you to set up and be ready to interface with his computer."

"What about Hewitt?"

"He didn't make it. He's dead."

Michelle stopped typing and stared at her screens. Oh my God! How many times could their key leads be killed? "Jack, I'm sorry."

"Call me when you're ready."

Tony watched as Chappelle and several guards came walking up to him. He placed his hands behind his back voluntarily and felt them handcuff him.

"I don't need to tell you you're under arrest," Chappelle said. "Where's Michelle Dessler?"

"She didn't know anything about this," he lied.

"She called me to the room where you drugged me."

Tony tried to protect her, saying, "She didn't know what I was gonna do."

"I need to issue a warrant, contact local police, issue a memo," Chappelle said to the people around them.

"I can find her," Carrie said.

"How?" Chappelle asked.

Tony glared at her.

"This whole thing has been about helping Jack Bauer," Carrie said, ignoring Tony. "If she's not here, that's what she's going somewhere off-site."

"How do we find her?" Chappelle asked.

"Backtrack her access code; see if she's logged on to the C.T.U. computer network."

"Then do it."

Carrie stared at Tony. "Right away."

"Put him in holding two," Chappelle ordered and Tony moved away with the guards. He could only hope that Michelle had enough time to do what she needed to do.

Michelle was ready. "Jack, I'm connected to Hewitt's computer. I just need you to press the escape key, and I can take control."

"Done."

"What did Hewitt tell you?"

"He told me he invented a program that could recreate anybody's voice. As long as he had a sample of that voice, he could get it to say anything he wanted. He told me he kept all the audio files in the main file."

Michelle looked in the main file. "All right, I think I found it." She looked the files over and muttered, "I've never seen anything like this before. All the samples are connected through an integrator."

"Okay, all I need is anything with Hewitt's voice on it."

"All right, hold on." She played one of the files. "Is that him?"

"No, damn it," Jack said. "There's hundreds of files. Hold on one second. Mrs. Palmer, when did you call Hewitt?"

Michelle waited for him to come back to her, wondering how Tony was doing inside. "Michelle, can you filter through the audio files by time and date?"

"Let me see. Yeah."

"Okay, see if you can pull an audio file that was recorded either late last night or early this morning right about midnight," Jack instructed.

She flipped through them until she found the one. "This must be it." She played it.

"That's him," Jack confirmed.

"We have to let it run," Michelle said.

As the file kept running Michelle heard noise outside the van. She glanced out the front window and saw security checking all the vans. Chappelle must have been found and Tony arrested. She knew he would never give up her location, but Chappelle must have figured out she'd still be trying to help. Or more likely Carrie figured it out.

She was going to be caught very soon.

"All right," she said when the computer beeped a moment later. "The program says we have enough material to create a phonetic template."

"Okay, good. What do we do?"

"All we have to do is open up a GEN file and type in the phrases we want voiced."

"What do you mean open up a GEN file?" Jack asked. He was not the computer guru she was.

"He created a separate program module for playback. All we have to find out is what menu it's under," she explained, working on it as she spoke. She heard the doors being checked to her van and broke out in a sweat. She needed some more time, damn it!

"What am I looking for?" Jack asked.

"Try a sub routine called Prologue."

The security guards knocked on the window. "Step outside the van, Agent Dessler," they called.

"They found me, Jack," Michelle said.

"Okay, it's loading. What am I looking for now?"

"Something that looks like a playback graphic interface," she explained. "They're almost here, Jack."

Security yelled again since they couldn't open the doors. "Step out of the van!"

"Hold on, Michelle. Hold on," Jack encouraged.

They got the doors open. "Ma'am, hands off the keyboard."

"Okay, I've got it. Michelle?" she heard Jack say, but couldn't respond. They grabbed her and yanked her out of the van.

"Hands behind your back," they said.

Michelle placed her hands behind her, hoping Jack could get what he needed. The two men grabbed her arms and handcuffed her. She gave them a haughty look, blowing some curls out of her face and trying not to look as scared as she was.

She was surprised that they locked her in the same holding room as Tony. He looked up, surprised as well. He was leaning against the wall. She stood still as they uncuffed her and waited for them to close the door before they spoke.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked.

She smiled. "Yeah. I hope I was able to give enough to Jack. Right before they grabbed me he said he had it," she shrugged. "Let me guess, Carrie assisted in finding me."

"You know it."

She sighed and started to pace. Tony sat down against the table, his back to the door. Michelle went over to him after a minute or two and sat beside him. "What do you think they'll charge us with?"

"They could push for treason if they wanted to," Tony said grimly.

She looked over at him, startled. "Think they will?"

He shook his head. "Depends on how big of an example they want to make of us."

She sighed. Tony looked over at her. "Look, Michelle, no one can prove that you knew anything about what I was gonna do to Chappelle. All right, now, I'm just gonna tell them that you were helping Jack under my orders. All right?"

Michelle stared at him, grateful for his caring and willingness to take the fall, but she wasn't going to let him. They were in this together. Besides, she did was she thought was right from the beginning.

"No," she said softly.

He looked over at her again. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I did what I thought was right," she said bravely, looking straight at the wall. "I still believe that." She then looked over at him. "And I won't let you lie for me."

They looked each other in the eye and Michelle saw the respect he had for her in his eyes. He looked away. Her heart pounding, she kept staring at the wall. She was very aware of Tony's hands right next to her. She placed her hand on top of his and felt his hand squeeze hers in return. They would do this together.

Neither one spoke for several minutes. Tony squeezed her hand again and let go, standing up to pace the room. Michelle stayed leaning against the table.

Fifteen minutes later the door opened and Chappelle walked in. "Sit down, both of you."

Tony walked over to the table, but didn't sit down. "Look, you don't need Michelle here. She was acting under my orders."

"I can defend myself, Tony." She shot him a look that told him what she thought about him doing what she said not to do.

"I said sit down!" Chappelle yelled.

Tony took a seat. "I need you to get me in contact with Jack Bauer," Chappelle said.

Tony couldn't believe it. Luck was finally on their side! "Oh, I see. Jack got some support above you, and now you're being squeezed, right?" Tony said, enjoying this.

"Can you do it or not?"

"What's going on?" Tony asked, crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair.

"Bauer's evidence might actually have some relevance."

Michelle smirked and looked at Tony. "Which means we were right."

"No," Chappelle argued. "You damn near put me in a coma. That's assault."

Tony knew he had the way out for both of them. "I tell you what, Ryan. You drop the charges against us and we'll help you."

That was clearly the last thing Chappelle wanted to do.

"Come'on Ryan," Tony taunted him. "You of all people know that's your best move, right?"

He thought about it for a minute and Tony loved seeing him squirm.

"Fine."

"In writing," Tony insisted. He didn't trust Chappelle one bit.

"All right, all right, in writing. Just get me in touch with Bauer."

Tony smiled at Michelle as Chappelle turned to walk them out. She smiled back at him sweetly and for the first time in hours his heart felt lighter. This was going to turn out right.

The next twenty minutes were spent assisting Jack in getting ready for his meeting with Peter Kinsley at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Michelle had back-up sent to him, even though they'd arrive later than the meeting was supposed to start, and then got the software ready to do voice print analysis of Peter Kingsley and Sherry Palmer to use for authentication. Tony got in contact with the President's staff and the White House, getting live audio feed to both locations so the President, Vice President and joint chiefs could listen in to the exchange.

The meeting started.

"Where's Hewitt?" a man, presumably Kingsley, asked.

"He's safe," Mrs. Palmer said.

"Where is he?"

"You lied to me," she said. "You wanted this bomb to go off all along. You used Roger Stanton and you used me."

"Yes, I did," Kingsley agreed.

"Well, now I'm tied to you and the nuclear detonation. I want safe haven."

"That's your problem."

"Well, I just made it yours," she said. "Because you won't see Hewitt until I'm safe."

Tony shook his head. They weren't getting confirmation about the recording.

"Don't horse trade with me," Kingsley said.

Mrs. Palmer snapped, "Don't insult my intelligence."

Michelle looked up. "Confirmed. Got a match on Kingsley's voice."

Jack spoke up, "Ryan, we got it."

Kingsley said to Mrs. Palmer, "You're not going anywhere until I have Hewitt."

"That doesn't work for me," she said. "I'll call you on this line to give you Hewitt's location after I'm safely away. You don't need to know where I'm going."

Tony spoke up, "Jack, we're not getting what we need here."

"She'll get it for you," Jack said.

"Now, there's the matter of the recordings."

"Oh, they're right here. Every phone conversation between you and me."

"No, I want all of them, including Cyprus," she insisted.

"Now, why would you want Cyprus? You had nothing to do with that."

"Insurance."

He asked, "Insurance? Once the country goes to war the government's never going to let that be exposed. Hewitt is the only one who can hurt us."

"Because he forged the Cyprus recording?"

"That's right."

_Yes!_ They had the confession!

"Okay, Tony, you got your proof. Let me go in. Give me the green light," Jack said anxiously.

Chappelle looked at Tony and said, "Get a confirm from the White House."

"Just a second, Jack," Tony said.

"She can't stay out there much longer," Jack argued. "Come on."

Tony was dialing the Cabinet. "This is Almeida. Are you satisfied?"

While Tony waited for an answer he heard Kingsley say, "You're bluffing. You don't have Hewitt, do you?"

"Oh yes, I do," she said.

"No, you don't. Scott, take her out."

_Come on, damn it! Give me the okay or Mrs. Palmer's going to die! _ Tony thought desperately. He heard gunshots and started, hoping against hope she wasn't dead.

"Run Sherry!" he heard Jack say and breathed a sigh of relief. They heard rapid gunfire and knew Jack was engaging all of Kingsley's men.

"How much longer before our teams get there?" Tony asked Michelle.

"Any minute," she said.

Tony hoped Jack had a minute.

Three minutes later the helicopter pilot radioed in, "He's down, but he's alive. Kingsley is dead."

A cheer rose up from all four of them standing there! The rest of C.T.U. stared at them. They had the confession that the tape was forged, and the White House heard it right from the source.

Michelle stayed on the line with L.A.P.D., getting the details of Jack Bauer and the rest of the team. Apparently Jack hadn't been shot, but he was injured in some way. Tony called Kate Warner over and told her she could take Kim to the coliseum to meet Jack there. From Michelle's scribbling on a piece of paper he was going to be taken directly to St. Peter's Hospital.

Twenty minutes later Tony looked up and saw Chappelle in his office. He climbed the steps, wondering if he still had an office. After everything that had happened he didn't think Chappelle would fire him again, but you never knew.

Chappelle was sitting in his chair and hanging up the phone when he walked in.

"Tony, that was District Director Vaughn. He's so happy with what we did here today, he doesn't know where to start," Chappelle reported happily, his face full of smiles.

Folding his arms across his chest, Tony said, "That's great."

"So, what's up, my friend?" Chappelle asked, swirling in his chair.

Tony smirked and walked over to the desk. _Friend? _"Well, um, it's like this. Either fire me or get out of my chair."

Chappelle looked at him in surprise, nodded, picked up his folders and got up. He walked around the opposite side of his desk and said, "The chair's all yours."

Tony turned around and watched him walk out, just as Michelle walked in.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she said. "The new shift is here. They've been brought up to speed."

Tony nodded, looking at her. She looked so happy right now, in an exhausted sort of way. He felt his pulse quicken. _Do it, Tony. Ask her out._

"I was thinking I'd get my brother and go home," she continued. She looked nervous to him and it confirmed that she was expecting him to ask her out.

"Um, Michelle, um," he stammered, moving closer to her. "There's a handful of people who made a big difference today and you're one of them. You made some though choices and went up against me, and I want you to know that you were right."

Her face clearly stated that wasn't what she wanted to hear from him. "Thanks," she said softly, looking away.

_Damn it, man, just ask her! _ "So, uh, why don't you go home and get some rest?" _Yeah, that sounds like asking her ask you idiot!_

She didn't say anything, but the disappointment on her face said it all. She nodded, turned around and started to walk out. He had to say something else. "Michelle."

She stopped and turned around, that expectant look on her face again.

He stared at those big brown eyes and felt his heart turn in his chest. He didn't know what to say. He worked his jaw, trying to find the words, and finally said, "See you tomorrow." He hoped she saw through his nervousness.

She looked at him and must have seen what he wanted her to see on his face. She smiled brightly, almost giggled, nodded and walked away. He smiled for the first time in hours and bit his lip.

He watched her walk away and couldn't keep the grin off his face. He didn't know what the future held, but it was certainly going to change for the better.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Tony was on his way out of C.T.U after the replacement from Division had been briefed. He was going to take Tony's place for the next twenty-four hours. Tony literally had his laptop case over his shoulder and his keys in his hands when the news broke.

Someone had tried to assassinate President David Palmer. Tony stood in shock, watching the breaking report of the president lying on the ground. He had just talked to him mere hours ago- how could this have happened?

"Go home, Tony," Chappelle said quietly, walking up to him. "I'll stay and handle this with Davidson."

Tony turned to him, surprised. "Are you sure, sir? This is huge."

"Yes, it is, but I need alert agents working on this. You and your staff have been through too much to be much help right now. I don't need mistakes. Go home, sleep, and be here tomorrow morning."

Nodding, Tony silently agreed, but he was worried about the president. He turned concerned eyes back to the screen. "Do we have intel on how he really is?"

"He's alive," Chappelle answered. "Beyond that, no."

Chappelle turned around and walked away. Tony forced his eyes away from the screen, looking around at the destruction of the building. It would take weeks to restore them to full capacity. As he walked outside and got into his Jeep, he felt incredibly weary. Images of Mason leaving C.T.U. for the last time, of Paula's tattered body, listening to Jack's goodbye to his daughter, and so many other memories from the last twenty-four hours raced through his mind. Tears filled his eyes.

Pushing aside his thoughts, Tony started up his car and backed out of the parking spot. He couldn't focus on this now. Sleep, food, and a shower would go a long way to allowing him to cope with it all.

Tony turned the radio on to distract his thoughts and started the drive home through rush-hour traffic. _I should have stayed at least until rush hour was over._

It took double the amount of time as it should, but Tony finally pulled off the highway and onto the street leading to his house. His stomach rumbled on cue as he passed a shopping center with a Burger King in it. He made a u-turn and pulled into the center, crawling to a stop in the busy drive-thru line. He sighed, leaning his head back against the seat.

In an effort to dispel the bad thoughts, Tony moved his mind onto Michelle. Couldn't he have said something better than "see ya tomorrow?" He wished he could speak normally to that woman. When away from her he thought of so many things to say to her, but whenever she was in his presence he just got so flustered. She must think he was an idiot.

Tony paid for his breakfast and pulled back onto the street. He drove past her apartment complex and wondered if she got home okay. He forced himself to keep driving, reminding himself that Michelle was a very capable grown woman, and wolfed down his breakfast. He made it home in record time.

Grateful that his neighbors weren't home, Tony wearily made it up the stairs and collapsed in the hallway. Jade was all over him, licking and hitting him with her tail. He smiled at her enthusiasm and petted her until she calmed down. He looked longingly towards his bedroom, but forced himself to head to the shower first. After everything he'd been through today, he definitely needed to clean up. He'd feel better and sleep better, too.

Tony quickly undressed and sighed contently as he stood under the hot water. He was feeling a little better already.

Michelle closed the door to her apartment and threw her purse onto the kitchen counter. She opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle, leaning wearily against the counter as she drank it down.

Getting Danny settled into his apartment was a mess. He was angry at her for letting them sedate him and practically arrest him. He felt she should have stood up for him and not taken sides with Carrie. It was useless to argue with him. He may have slept off the alcohol, but not the anger. She did her best to calm him down, but he basically threw her out of his apartment.

As if she needed that today of all days.

She finished the water bottle and headed upstairs, kicking her heels off as she went, not even caring where they landed. She knew she should stop and take a shower, but she was so exhausted. She quickly discarded her skirt and blouse, unhooked her bra and let them all fall wherever. After laying her cell phone on the nightstand to charge, she collapsed on the bed and was asleep within minutes.

Her slumber didn't last long. She dreamt of C.T.U. being bombed, seeing the images play through her subconsciencous. She woke up screaming three hours later, remembering how she thought Tony had died. Sweat poured off her face and she blinked, trying to remove the images from her mind. Tony was alive and well. Paula wasn't. George wasn't.

_Stop torturing yourself!_

Michelle jumped up and headed for a shower. Maybe the hot water would clear her mind. She stood under the water and scrubbed her body clean, as if she was trying to scrub her mind clean of the bad memories.

_Think of the good that came out of that day,_ she told herself. She remembered the moments between her and Tony, especially the kiss. She still couldn't believe that she had kissed him. The heat of the moment, she guessed. It was much more than that to her, and she hoped that it was more than that for him too, but she wasn't sure. He did kiss her back, more passionately than she had started it, and said he didn't regret it. That counted for something.

Michelle stayed under the hot water until it started turning cold. She got out and collapsed back into bed, hoping she could sleep better this time. She kept her thoughts centered on Tony and hoped her dreams would stay there as well.

Her cell phone ringing woke Michelle up several hours later. With her eyes still closed, she fumbled around for her phone. She grabbed it right before it would have gone into voicemail.

"'Lo?" she asked, no even bothering to check caller ID.

"Michelle? Did I wake you up?"

Tony! "Um, yeah, but that's okay."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She forced her eyes open. "It's alright. Um, what time is it anyway?"

Tony chuckled. "Six o'clock."

"At night?" she asked, sitting upright in bed and feeling wide awake.

"Yeah."

She groaned. "I'll never get to sleep tonight. I can't believe I slept this long."

"You needed it," he said. "I slept until five myself."

She scooted up against her headboard, pulling the covers up to her. She slept in her panties only and somehow even talking to Tony without most of her clothes on made her face flame.

"Is everything okay?" she asked when he didn't say anything else.

"Yeah," he said. "I—I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

She bit her lip. "I won't lie and say I didn't have a few nightmares, but I'll be fine. How about you?"

"Same thing," he said, his voice sounding sad. "I know it will hit hard tomorrow when I have to go back in there and keep working when so many people---"

His voice trailed off and Michelle felt her eyes sting. "I know how you feel. Did Chappelle say what was going to happen around there?"

"No. I'm expecting he'll have it all planned out by the time we get there, though. There's going to be some major reconstructing, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get moved temporarily."

"Ah, I hope not," she said, wrinkling her nose. "That would be such a pain in the ass."

Tony chuckled again. "We can handle anything after yesterday."

"Yeah, I know."

"Did you hear the news about President Palmer?" Tony asked, changing the subject.

"No."

"Someone attempted to assassinate him."

Michelle sat up again. "What! Is he okay?"

"He was alive when I left this morning. Chappelle ordered me to go home, saying he would stay and take care of things."

Michelle was stunned. She really respected President Palmer and sincerely hoped he was alright.

"Michelle?"

"I—I'm sorry, Tony," she said. "I just can't believe it. How did they attempt it? Do we know who it was?"

"I don't have the details, but it looked biological."

She sighed. "It never ends, huh? Terrorism."

"That's why we're here," he said softly.

"Tony, how do you deal with days like this?" she asked. "I know you've been through a day like this before."

Tony sighed this time. "You just have to keep moving on. Take one day at a time. The pain and memories eventually fade into the background. You have to let yourself go through the process, unfortunately."

"I knew there would be times like this, intense moments," she told him. "I guess I never realized the personal sacrifices that went with it."

They both remained silent for a while, and then Tony cleared his throat. "So, I was wondering, ah, if you wanted to do that dinner and movie thing we talked about."

Michelle started grinning. He was finally doing it! Asking her out. "Sure."

"How's Saturday night?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me," she said.

"Good," he said, sounding relieved that it was over. "Well, ah, I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay. Good night, Tony," she said, the grin still on her face.

His voice turned soft. "Good night, Michelle."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tony walked into C.T.U. the next morning and held his breath for a moment. A lot of work had already been accomplished by the construction crew, but the destruction could still be seen clearly. He tried to shake off the memories and headed into the bullpen. He said hello to several people on his way up to his office, which he could see was already occupied by Ryan Chappelle.

"Tony, glad you're here," Chappelle said when he walked in. "We have a lot to go over."

Tony dropped his laptop case on his desk, noting with satisfaction that Chappelle had gotten out of his chair the moment he walked in the door. "Yeah; I have a lot of questions. First off, how's the president?"

"Fine; recovering in the hospital," Chappelle said. "Division is going to work up this case, so don't worry about it."

Tony sat down in his chair, glancing down into the bullpen. Michelle's desk was empty; she must not have come in yet. "What was it?"

"We have video footage of a woman shaking his hand right before the attack," Chappelle said. "We don't know who she is, but like I said, Division is working on it. There was some kind of poison that was transferred to Palmer's hand; we found a glove discarded at the scene."

Tony shook his head, but didn't have a chance to say anything before Chappelle went on. "As far as C.T.U. goes, they're shutting the place down for one week to reconstruct it."

"What? How can we go down for a week?" Tony asked.

"All of your personnel will work out of temporary offices at Division, with the exception of yourself and one other person you assign to help you. I need you to start filling the positions we lost."

"How many positions is that?"

"Hammond and the other keys from Division want to reconstruct C.T.U. internally as well," Chappelle said, not answering him directly. "They want to split Field Ops into a separate department."

Tony nodded. "That makes sense. Who would run that?"

"Well, he hasn't given us an answer yet, but we've offered the position to Jack Bauer."

"Jack Bauer?" Tony repeated, surprised. "The same Jack Bauer who everyone thought was chasing a ghost yesterday?"

Chappelle looked away. "We were wrong about Bauer. He proved that he still has what it takes to do this job, at whatever cost. If he's agreeable he will head Field Ops. As Director of C.T.U., you would work hand-in-hand with Bauer, but he will be responsible for hiring his own field agents and support staff."

"Okay," Tony said, noting out of the corner of his eye that Michelle had arrived. He hid a smile as she looked up at his office the moment she reached her desk. If Chappelle hadn't been there he would have smiled back.

"This leads back to your original question," Chappelle said. "You'll have to fill your old position…"

"I'm going to promote Michelle Dessler to that position," Tony put in.

Chappelle nodded, not looking surprised. "That's a good choice. You'll have to fill her position, then, plus the two computer analyst jobs you lost. There are over thirty positions overall that need to be filled, but most of them can be delegated to the supervisors in those departments. You'll have to write off on each hire, but the grunt work can be done by the supervisors. I just need you to do those three positions for the people you directly work with."

"Okay. I'll talk to Michelle and have her start working on those tech jobs."

Chappelle nodded. "I would recommend Carrie Turner to fill---."

Tony cut him off, "No way! I do not want Carrie in this office again."

"Tony, I know there was some conflict---"

"No, Ryan. I need people in my department who I can trust. Carrie proved she is willing to sell out whatever and whoever necessary for her own benefit, not the good of this department. She's not an option."

Chappelle stared at him a moment and then nodded, "It's your call."

"Thank you," Tony said. "Anything else?"

"Yes, one more thing. We're going to hold a memorial service on Tuesday," Chappelle said. "As Director of C.T.U. and a major player in yesterday's events, I'd like you to say a few words."

Tony hated making speeches, but knew there would be no talking his way out of this. "Okay," he nodded.

"Good," Chappelle said, standing up and grabbing his briefcase. "I'm going back to Division. I've already made the announcement to the remaining people here at C.T.U. and they will be heading to Division shortly. As long as you stay out of their way, you and Michelle can work from your office today. Monday you will have to work from Division."

Tony nodded and waited for him to leave before picking up his phone.

"Dessler."

"Hey," he said, happy to hear her voice. "Can you come up here for a second?"

"Sure."

Tony watched her walk up to his office, admiring how beautiful she was. She had her hair pulled back, as usual, but was wearing a gray pantsuit with a pink blouse. She was stunning.

"Hi," she said, walking through the door.

"Hey," he said, standing up and moving over to his sofa. He sat down and she followed suit. "I just had a meeting with Chappelle."

"Yeah, I saw him leave," she said. "Which I can't say I'm sad about. That man drives me crazy."

Tony laughed and went over his conversation with Chappelle. Michelle was happy about her promotion, and about splitting Field Ops off, but wasn't too sure about Jack being head of it.

"Do you think Jack can handle it?" she asked. "I mean, he did great yesterday, but I don't know how stable he is."

"Jack is extreme and does things no one else would be willing to do," Tony agreed. "But I think he'd be excellent at it. Jack was great when he directed this place, before everything happened, even if I didn't always recognize it. I know he's been through hell since then, but I think being back here yesterday may have helped him to move on. This would give him some new meaning to life."

Michelle nodded. "He definitely has what it takes to get the job done."

Tony finished relaying the rest of his conversation with Chappelle and then told her they would need to get started on filling the two computer positions. The sooner they were filled, the easier both their jobs would be. "I need to coordinate with the supervisors of the other departments," he said. "While I do that I need you to pull up whatever resumes have come into Division and start sorting them out."

She nodded again and stood up. "I'll get started."

Tony wished he had he guts to kiss her right then, but simply nodded. "You can work up here so we're out of the construction crew's way," he told her.

"Okay." She sat down at one of the computers behind his desk and started working, already focused on the task at hand. He had always admired her for that work ethic.

Tony reluctantly left the office and headed downstairs to speak to whatever supervisors were on hand. The sooner the job was done, the sooner he could be back upstairs with Michelle.

The day flew by for Michelle, who had managed to review and call over twenty people to fill the spot of two analysist jobs. Monday was sure to be long, having to do all those interviews. Tony helped sort through the resumes with her, but most of the time he was busy with phone calls from other supervisors and Division.

At four-thirty he hung up the phone from his millionth conversation and said, "We're worked hard enough today. I can't talk to one more person."

She smiled, inwardly agreeing. "I can't stare at this computer screen any more, that's for sure."

He swirled in his chair and smiled at her. "Why don't you go home and get some more rest?"

"Rest? My friends have roped me into going out tonight, which I really don't even want to do," she told him, remembering her promise to Lily that she would. "They feel the need to celebrate 'We-know-Michelle-helped-save-L.A.-even-if-she-won't-tell-us-the-details.'"

Tony laughed. "Hmmm, it's a good thing I didn't ask you out for tonight."

Michelle could feel her face turning red, but she grinned. "They asked me after I spoke to you, actually. They wanted to do it on Sunday so they could hear all the details from our date, but I told them no. Not that it will stop them from hounding my cell phone all day long before I give in."

Tony got out of his chair and came over to her, grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. He gave her a hug and whispered, "I can't wait until tomorrow."

She was glad he was hugging her because she could feel her face flaming. "Me too," she whispered back.

He pulled them apart and leaned down to kiss her. Not as passionate or desperate as their first kiss, it was sweet and delicious none-the-less. "Have a good time tonight, but be careful."

"I will. How much trouble can four women get into?" she teased in an effort to calm her racing heart.

He groaned. "Don't get me started."

She giggled. "Do you have plans tonight?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "Two of my college buddies are coming over to watch the game tonight. I invited Jack to come too since he's out of the hospital, but he didn't commit one way or the other."

"Really? That's nice of you."

He sighed. "Jack needs some friends, and after yesterday I thought maybe he and I could…"

He trailed off, but Michelle got the message. "I hope he shows up. Hmm, beer, sports and four men. Sounds like you need to be careful too."

Michelle got another kiss from Tony and then she left, wishing it were him she was going out with and not her girlfriends. Oh well; tomorrow would come. She hurried home, showered and changed into jeans and a cute red top. Her doorbell rang just as she was finishing up.

"Hey, come in," she said to two of her friends, Amy and Christy, who were cousins. They had gone to college with her and Lily, and had stayed friends since then.

"Hi! Where are we eating? I'm starving!" Amy asked characteristly. She was always hungry. Michelle chuckled, thinking she'd never survive a rough day at C.T.U.

"Lily said she was running late and would meet us at whatever restaurant we chose," Christy told her. "So where do you want to go?"

Michelle grabbed her purse and cell phone, and ushered them out the door. "Let's take my car," she said. "And how about we go to Angelo's down in Third?"

"Ohh, Italian, sure!" Amy agreed.

Christy called Lily with the plans while Michelle drove them to the restaurant. While she usually enjoyed the company of her girlfriends, the meal wasn't even halfway over before they started digging about Tony.

"So, I bet you didn't mind spending twenty-four hours in the company of your hot boss," Amy giggled.

"Yeah, any news about that?" Christy asked.

Michelle picked up her wine glass and took another long drink, feeling her face starting to flush. Why did she always get red?

"Ohh, something did happen!" Amy exclaimed, noting her flushed cheeks.

"Tell us!"

Michelle put down her glass and sighed. "Well, a lot did happen, but it's kinda complicated."

"We've got all night," Lily pointed out, grinning. Michelle had gushed over Tony last night on the phone to her, and so knew all the juicy details. But Michelle knew that Lily would not let on that she knew anything.

"Can I get you anything else?" the waiter interrupted them.

Michelle spoke up quickly, "Yes, please. Another glass of wine please."

"And a round of Tequila shots," Amy said.

Michelle shook her head. "I'm guessing I'm taking a cab home tonight."

"So, tell us all about your day with Tony," Christy prompted.

"Okay," Michelle said. "Umm, due to C.T.U. being bombed and the nature of the nuclear threat, there were times I wondered if we would survive, so, umm…"

The drinks arrived and Michelle quickly gulped half the glass of wine down.

"Come on, don't stop there!" Amy said.

Everyone grabbed their shots and downed them. Michelle's head started spinning, but she giggled along with her friends. It wasn't a date with Tony, but it was the next best thing. She felt herself relaxing for the first time in days.

"Okay, okay," she said, giving in. "I actually ended up asking him out."

"What?" Amy and Christy both exclaimed together.

Michelle laughed. "Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing actually, but I honestly didn't know if we would live through the day and I wanted him to know how I felt."

"So what did he say?" Lily asked, leaning into the table.

"He stopped me from babbling by telling me he felt the same way," Michelle replied.

"Ohh, I knew it!" Amy cried. "Who could resist our little Michelle?"

Michelle snorted at the reference and drank down the rest of her wine. "He said he had been keeping his distance because of what happened between him and his last girlfriend, who he worked with and ended up being a traitor. But," she went on, holding up a hand to stop the onslaught of comments, "he went on to say that he felt differently now."

"So, what happened then?" Lily asked, caught up in the story again.

Michelle signaled the waiter and said, "I'd like an Italian Surfer this time, please."

"Oh, me too," Christy chimed in.

Tony couldn't believe he ended up getting talked into picking up the pizzas and beer. How did he end up hosting the thing and being the delivery man? He shook his head and opened the door to Angelos, the agreed upon best pizza in the area. He had called his order in, but one glance at the pick up counter showed no boxes. He should have picked the beer up first.

He was about to turn around and head to the liquor store when a familiar laugh stopped him. A look to his right showed a high half-wall separating the dining room from the entrance/waiting area. He couldn't see her, but he definitely knew that laugh. Michelle and her friends must be here tonight.

Maybe the beer could wait after all.

Feeling slightly guilty for doing so, Tony leaned against the wall and waited for his pizza, listening to the conversation between the woman of his dreams and her friends. It sounded like they were having a good time.

"Okay, okay, on with the story," one of them said.

"Umm, where was I?" Michelle said. "Well, obviously we were too busy to do anything about it, but then Carrie showed up."

"Oh my God, the Bitch? How did that happen?"

"We were really short-handed and needed help, so Division sent over replacements. She was one of them," Michelle answered, and even now Tony could hear the distain in her voice.

"I can't even imagine!" one of the girls gushed.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. She kept fighting me on everything," Michelle went on. "It was tolerable, though, until Danny decided to show up."

"How and why would Danny go to your work?"

"He was drunk and the phone lines were down. We had an argument on the phone right before they went dead and he hung up on me," Michelle explained. "He said he was coming to apologize to me. He was really drunk."

"Like we are now?" one of them giggled and Tony shook his head, smiling.

"Unlike you, Danny is not a fun drunk," Michelle said. "Anyway, he saw Carrie and they started fighting. He grabbed her by the throat and---"

"He did what!"

"And we had to have him sedated," Michelle continued. "By this point I about had it and went off to take a breather, but Tony saw me and followed me. He, uh…."

Tony really peaked up now, knowing where this was leading. Eavesdropping wasn't always so bad, he decided.

"He was really sweet to me and helped calm me down. And then I kissed him."

Tony bit back a laugh as he identified three separate gasps and "oh my gods."

"You kissed him? You?"

"Okay, asking him out was out-of-character," someone else said. "But kissing him first? My God, Michelle, were you on drugs?"

Michelle laughed. "No. You have no idea what severe stress and a year of un-released sexual tension can do. It was if I had to do it."

_Sexual tension?_ Wow! Tony was definitely glad he was listening to this.

"How did he react?"

"Well, I tried to break off the kiss and apologize, but he just pushed me closer to him and kissed me back. It was great…"

"Hello, Michelle? Back to earth, girl, and finish this story! You can daydream later."

Tony was startled when his name was yelled loudly from the pick-up counter. "Tony! Tony Almeida! Good to see ya, man! How you been?"

Even over her friends' laughter, Michelle heard Tony's name yelled. Without even thinking, she stood up and looked over the wall to see down into the lobby area. Tony was at the pick-up counter, three boxes of pizza in front of him and chatting with the man behind the counter.

She sat back down quickly. "Oh my God, don't look, but Tony is here!"

"Don't look? Are you crazy?" Amy and Christy both shouted in unison. "We have to get a look at this hunk."

Michelle slid down in her seat and grabbed her new drink, gulping it quickly. Her head was spinning from all the alcohol, but she was very aware of Amy yelling Tony's name. She grabbed her friend's elbow, seething, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Saying hello," she smirked.

Michelle slid even further in her seat when Tony rounded the corner and headed to their table. She was drunk and unprepared to see him, even if he looked drop-dead gorgeous. He had changed from his suit to a pair of well-worn blue jeans and a tight white t-shirt. Simple and very sexy.

"Michelle," Tony said, smiling. "Hello."

"Uh, hi, Tony," she croaked out. "What are you doing here?"

He sighed. "I got selected for the beer and pizza run."

She giggled at the puppy-dog look on his face. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he smiled again.

Michelle bit her lip. Amy stood up and reached out a hand to Tony. "Hi, I'm Amy, one of Michelle's friends. This is Christy and Lily."

He shook their hands, still smiling. "Nice to meet you, ladies. Tony Almeida."

"So, you, um, work with Michelle, huh?" Christy asked.

Michelle rolled her eyes and finished her Italian Surfer in one more gulp. She'd better stop with the alcohol or she'd been wasted tomorrow.

"Yeah, I'm her boss, actually," Tony replied.

All three girls giggled and Michelle knew she'd better get Tony away from them or she'd been embarrassed before long. "Hey, Tony, I'll walk you out while my friends recover."

He looked surprised, but didn't argue. The girls smiled sweetly at him, but shot daggers at Michelle, which she ignored. Facing all three of these friends at one time would be daunting for Tony, but even more so when they were drunk.

She started walking towards Tony, but stumbled. Man, she was drunk. He reached out a hand to steady her. "Hey, are you drunk?"

Biting her lip, Michelle said in a loud whisper, "Yeah, I think so."

He looked amused, but kept his grip on her as he grabbed his pizzas and walked outside. Once they were in the warm night air, Tony turned to her. "Do you need to go home?"

"I'm not that drunk, Tony," she muttered. "Don't worry; we're all calling a cab."

He looked as if he wanted to argue, but instead nodded. "Are you having fun at least?"

She smiled. "Yeah. So, uh, did you hear anything?"

He bit back a grin. "Hear what?"

She looked so relieved for a moment that Tony had to be evil. "I mean, all I heard was brief recap of our day, followed by something like sexual tension?"

Michelle's face fell and turned bright red. Tony laughed, putting the pizzas in his front seat and turning back to her. He tried to pull her into a hug, but she pushed him away. "I can't believe you eavesdropped on our conversation!"

He couldn't stop laughing, even as he knew he'd be in big trouble. "I'm sorry, Michelle, but I couldn't help but want to hear your version of the day."

She eyed him disdainfully. He reached again for her, but she moved out of his reach, stumbling, but righting herself on his car. "I'm going back inside now. Enjoy your pizza."

"Michelle," he said, reaching out and grabbing her arm faster than she could move. "Don't be mad. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, right," she mumbled.

He rubbed his thumb across her arm and pulled her closer. He looked deep into her eyes and whispered, "I really am."

She sighed and made a move to turn her face away. He grabbed her cheeks in both hands and pulled her in for a sweet kiss. He felt the fight go out of her, so he moved his one hand around her. She reciprocated and wrapped her arms around him, snuggling into his chest closer.

Tony forgot all about his surroundings, the people watching them as they came and went into the restaurant. He forgot the pizzas getting cold in his car and his buddies back in his apartment. All he knew was that the woman of his dreams was in his arms, kissing him more and more passionately with each passing second.

Tony nibbled on her lower lip, making her open her mouth slightly and slowly he pushed his tongue inside. Their first kiss, as sensual and passionate as it was, had not been a French kiss. Tony had to stop himself from moaning as Michelle welcomed his tongue and deepening their kiss.

Slowly the sounds of cheering brought him back to his senses. He reluctantly pulled away from Michelle, looking over her head to the direction of the noise. Michelle's three friends stood in the doorway of the restaurant, along with a dozen or so other patrons, clapping and cheering. He looked down at Michelle, biting his lip to keep from smiling. She had buried her head in his chest, obviously recognizing her friends' voices.

"Hey," he whispered, making her lift her head up. "They're just jealous."

She didn't look convinced, but she did smile at him. "Maybe."

He pulled away from her completely and whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded. "Bye."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Michelle couldn't have told anyone under the threat of torture what happened the rest of the night, and not because of the alcohol. She remembered the laughing and teasing of her friends, of sharing a cab ride with them. Now it was after midnight and she was lying in bed, dreaming of what happened earlier that evening.

Tony had kissed her, taken her breath away, and in public. She never took him as liking public displays of affection, but obviously she was wrong. It had been absolutely perfect, even if her friends ruined the ending.

She sighed and turned on her side, hugging her pillow. Michelle couldn't believe how much life had changed so quickly. A few days ago she almost died; now she had helped save the U.S. from a nuclear bomb and had a promising future with the man she had been dreaming about for a year.

Michelle wished she could fall asleep, but she just couldn't. With another sigh she turned the TV on and hoped the distraction of it would help her fall asleep. She flipped through channels and settled on a rerun of _Friends_. She had been an avid fan of the show and had seen all the episodes, but it was still a good way to relax and have a good laugh.

Twenty minutes later she was sound asleep.

Tony was proud of the way he was able to stay busy and focused on Saturday. He was so nervous and anxious about the date tonight that he wasn't sure he'd be able to get anything done, but he surprised himself. He got his apartment cleaned, took his dog to the vet for her checkup and then for a walk. He did laundry, washed his car.

At five o'clock he stopped to get ready for the date, which gave him two hours to prepare. He took a shower, shaved, and stood in front of his closet, trying to decide what to wear. He normally wore a suit to work, even though most days the jacket came off because he hated it. He never wore a tie, though. While his mother and sister had managed to buy him several, they were in the back of the closet and reserved for times he couldn't get away with not wearing one. While he wanted tonight to be special, he didn't want to be anything but himself. He settled on a pair of nice khaki pants and a blue Polo dress shirt. A spray of cologne, his dress watch and deodorant completed the package.

Tony let his dog outside and mentally reviewed the night in his head. He hoped and prayed no one bothered his cell phone tonight.

Ten minutes later he was in his car, heading to the nearby florist. He walked inside and sighed mentally. He wasn't the most romantic guy in the world and the only times he went into a florist shop was on Mother's Day. He wandered around the shop, wondering what to get Michelle. Roses were too predicable. He saw the display of tulips and decided on them. He remembered how his sister, Lisa, always raved about how much she loved tulips. He hoped Michelle did. Tony picked up a bouquet of white and purple tulips, remembering somewhere in the back of his mind that Michelle's favorite color was purple.

That task done, Tony drove down to Hanson's, a fine dining steak restaurant downtown that one of his best friends, Rick Nallum, owned and managed. He and Rick went back to their college days at San Diego State and then in the Marines. They'd known each other for almost sixteen years and Tony didn't have a closer friend.

Tonight Rick was going to help him out.

Tony parked in the fairly dead parking lot… it was still early for dinner… and headed inside.

"May I help you, sir?" the maitre de asked.

"Yes, I'd like to speak to Mr. Nallum please," Tony said. "Tell him it's Tony Almeida."

"Yes sir," he said. "One moment."

Five minutes later Rick came out. "Tony! Hey, man, what's up?"

"What happened last night?" Tony asked. "You didn't show for the game."

"I know," he said. "Dana wasn't feeling well and wanted me to stay home to help with Kayla."

Rick had a three year old daughter, Kayla, and his wife was six months pregnant. Tony loved Kayla to death- she called him "Uncle Tony"- and sometimes he envied his friend's peaceful life.

"Tell Dana I hope she feels better," Tony said.

Rick smiled. "I will, thanks. So, what's up?"

"I need a favor," he said.

"Anything," Rick said instantly. "What?"

"I have a date tonight."

Rick's eyebrows rose. "A date? Really? That's fantastic! Who is it? Did you finally have

the nerve to ask that woman in your office?"

Tony laughed at all the questions. "Yes, I asked Michelle out. Can you hook me up with a nice table for us at seven thirty?"

"Of course!" Rick walked over to the maitre de. "Walter, put a reservation in for two under the name Almeida. Seven thirty, table 17."

Tony chuckled at Rick. He had been after him for months to get over Nina and ask Michelle out. Rick turned back to Tony and said, "Table 17 is in a corner, nice view, private."

"Great, thanks, Rick," Tony said.

"Anytime," Rick said, slapping him on the back. "Have a great time!"

"Thanks," Tony said, smiling and walking out the door. Right on schedule.

Michelle was nervous. She had been all day. To distract herself, she had cleaned her apartment to perfection and done all her laundry. She didn't want Tony thinking she was a slob or anything. She wasn't, but she wasn't a clean-freak either.

She had changed three times, unsure of what to wear. She didn't want to be too dressy, but didn't want too casual either. She finally settled on a white dress with her good amethyst jewelry to compliment it. The dress was simple and sexy, without being too dressed-up. She wore a new pair of white sandals to also keep it less dressy.

Her hair was another story. She always wore it up at work and considered keeping it down tonight. She stared in the mirror for what seemed like forever, lifting her hair up in several different ways. With a huff of exasperation at herself, Michelle decided to keep it down and spent the next twenty minutes fixing it with mousse and the hair dryer.

She searched her closet for her pretty, little white clutch purse that she only used on special occasions. She found it, finally, in the bottom of a drawer, which showed the last special occasion she had been to. It basically fit her license, a credit card, some cash, her cell phone and a tube of lipstick. Not much, but fine for a date.

She was ready, with thirty minutes to spare. She went downstairs and settled on the couch, turning on the TV to wait. She flipped channels, finding another episode of _Friends_ and waited for Tony to show up.

At five minutes to seven the knock sounded and she rubbed sweaty palms on her couch. _Here goes nothing!_

She opened her door and grinned. Tony had brought her flowers.

"Hey," he said, his voice low and sexy. He held out the bouquet of tulips. "These are for you."

She took them, smiling. "I love tulips. Thank you!"

Tony smiled, relieved that she liked them. She motioned him to come in and Tony stepped into her apartment. He turned around to face her as she shut the door behind them. She looked amazingly beautiful.

She started to move past him, but he grabbed her arm. She looked up at him inquiringly. "You look absolutely beautiful."

Michelle blushed and whispered, "Thank you."

Tony leaned down and kissed her softly.

She eventually pulled away. "I need to put these in water."

"Okay." He followed her and looked around, amazed at how beautifully decorated her apartment was. She had a central theme of bright yellow and royal blue throughout all the rooms downstairs, and a lot of plants and flowers to accent.

She put her flowers in a vase in the kitchen and then gave him a tour.

"This is the extra bathroom and spare room," she said, as he had already seen the kitchen and living room. The spare room, which did not have a bed, was full of boxes on one side and bookshelves on the other.

"This is okay," she said, looking around, "But it's upstairs that makes this place so awesome."

He followed her upstairs, looking at the framed pictures on the walls and wondering who the men were. He recognized Danny in a few of them, but several photos had different guys in them. Friends or old boyfriends?

"Ta-da," she said as they got to the top.

"Wow." The room was amazing. Decorated in white and purple, it was basically one huge room. A fireplace stood against a wall, a queen-sized bed opposite it covered with a white comforter and several different sized purple pillows. An alcove sat to one side and sported her computer desk and a file cabinet. A TV stand stood beside the fireplace, facing the bed.

"That is a walk-in closet," she said, pointing to a partly closed door. "And this is my bathroom."

He walked into a huge bathroom, also decorated in white and purple.

"The skylight can be annoying if you try to sleep during the day," she said. "I have to keep the door closed because of it. I have to sleep with it dark."

"Me too," he said. "You place is beautiful, Michelle. You are a great decorator."

"Thanks," she said, blushing. "It's a hobby."

"Well, feel free to decorate my place, although the purple may be a bit much," he teased.

She laughed. "Okay, no purple. How about hot pink?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "No, thank you."

She bit her lip, looking as nervous as he felt. "Let's go get something to eat."

Michelle nodded and followed him out to his car. He opened the door for her and she eyed him. "Yes, I know how to be a gentleman," he laughed. "My mom taught me well."

She laughed and settled in the passenger seat, waiting for him to get in himself before saying, "You mean you have a mother? Tony Almeida didn't crawl out from under a rock?"

He laughed at her teasing. "Believe it or not. I even have a sister, brother-in-law and two nephews."

"Really? How old?" she asked.

"Umm, let's see," Tony said. "Ethan's four and Josh is one. No, two."

She laughed at him. "Are you sure?"

He smiled. "Yeah. I distinctly remember an email from my mom reminding me of his birthday party, begging me to fly to Chicago for the weekend."

"Did you?" she asked.

He eyed her. "What do you think?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "C.T.U.'s great benefit package that you can never use."

"Except for the medical insurance," Tony teased, although it was so true.

Michelle nodded.

"You said Danny had kids?" Tony asked, staying on the subject of their families.

"Yeah, a boy and girl," she replied. "D.J., who is Danny Junior, is six and Amber is four. They live with their mother, who is still pissed at Danny and doesn't let him see them much."

"I'm sorry," he said. "Do you get to see them much?"

"Not as much as I'd like," she answered. "They're great kids."

"Yeah, I miss my nephews a lot. I've only seen Josh once," Tony said, trying to bring the subject away from her brother's problems. "Lisa, my sister, never lets me forget that whenever we talk. She's always trying to make me feel guilty. She just doesn't understand the job."

"What does she do?"

"She's a first-grade teacher. Her husband, Pete, is a dentist."

Michelle grimaced. "A dentist, ugh. One of my worse nightmares."

"Why?" he asked. "You have great teeth. You've probably never even needed to see a dentist."

"I go regularly to the hygienist, but one time I had to get a filling. It was horrible," Michelle said, making a cute face.

Tony laughed at her, pulling into the parking lot of Hanson's. He saw her eyes widen. "How did you get a reservation here? I've heard they book out for weeks!"

"They do," Tony answered, parking the jeep and getting out to open her door. As she got out, he finished, "It helps to have the owner be your best friend."

"You are best friends with the guy that owns this?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah. Rick Nallum and I go back more years than I can remember," Tony said, taking her hand as they walked to the door. He was feeling nervous again and hoped his hand wasn't sweaty.

"How far?" she asked.

"Freshman year of college. He was my roommate." Tony opened the door and ushered her insider. He looked at the maitre de, the same man as before, and nodded.

Within seconds the maitre de was walking them through the restaurant and to the table Rick selected. Tony was impressed, and could see by Michelle's face that she was too. The table was in a corner, dimmed lighting and a great view from the window beside them.

"Wow," Michelle said after they sat down. "He must like you."

Tony smiled. "We survived as roommates all four years, and spent a lot of our time together in the Marines."

Michelle was about to speak when Rick showed up. Tony rolled his eyes at him, but Rick thoroughly ignored him and held his hand out to Michelle. "Hello, I'm Rick. You must be Michelle."

She smiled and shook his head. "Thank you for the wonderful table. You have a beautiful restaurant."

"Thanks," he said. "I don't want to embarrass Tony, but I just wanted to say hello and be able to tell my wife that I actually met the famous Michelle."

Tony could feel his face turning red. "Thanks, Rick. You can go now."

Rick and Michelle both laughed at him. "I'm leaving, but please enjoy a bottle of wine or champagne on me."

Tony looked over at Michelle, who was smiling at Rick. He always was the ladies man.

"Thanks," she said, looking over at him. "Um, Tony?"

"Whatever you prefer," he said, not really liking either one and knowing Rick knew that. Both of them preferred beer or harder liquor.

"Your house wine then, please," Michelle said.

"Perfect choice," Rick said, laying on the charm thick. "Enjoy your meal."

Tony rolled his eyes at him again and bit back a smile at the triumphant look on Rick's face.

"He seems nice," Michelle commented. "I have a hard time picturing him in the Marines, though. How did he end up owning a restaurant?"

"He was one of the best snipers in Third Division," Tony told her. "We were both restless when we got out of college. Both of us had done a combined bachelor program, spending five years at San Diego, and after that much time we wanted to have some fun. We were young and stupid. Anyway, once he was out he got the loans and opened this place up."

"Combined programs?" she asked, going back to their schooling. "Wow. I'm impressed."

Tony was surprised she didn't already know. He already checked her file and knew she had a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of California at Davis. "Yeah, I have my degree in engineering and computer science. Rick has his in computer science and business management."

"Wow," she repeated. "Computer science was enough for me. Why did you do two?"

"Well, my dad was an architect and always wanted me to join his practice, so to please him I majored in that," Tony said. "But I always loved computers and took all my electives in that. Rick didn't know what he wanted to do, so he took the same computer classes with me. We eventually took enough credits to get a degree in that as well."

The waiter interrupted them with their wine and then asking for their orders. Neither had looked at the menu, but they glanced at it quickly and ordered.

After he left, Michelle went back to asking questions. "After getting two degrees, what made you decide to go into the military?"

"Rick. Despite having two degrees, neither of us were ready to actually go out and get jobs in either field. By having our degrees we could enter as officers, so we did it. We both served six years as snipers."

"And then?" she asked.

"Rick met Dana and decided to get out of the military for her," Tony said. "I left because I knew I didn't want to make it a career. By having military connections, though, I was able to apply to a lot of different Federal agencies. I was hired by D.O.D. and worked as an analyst while taking night classes at Stanford for my masters."

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "You like school?"

Tony laughed. "Actually, yeah, I do. But my masters is as far as I'll go. I have no desire for any more."

"I loved college," Michelle said, "But I'm glad it's over."

"Why?"

"College holds some great memories, but some bad ones as well," Michelle said. "By the time I graduated I was glad to put those years behind and move on."

"What happened that was so bad?" he asked.

"A lot," she said, her eyes clouding over. "The worse thing was my parents' death in my sophomore year. They were killed right before Thanksgiving break; car accident."

Tony blinked, hearing the pain still in her voice. He reached across the table and took her hand. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's been nine years now. It was just so hard to lose them both at once, without any warning."

"I can't imagine how awful that would be," he said softly to her. "It was horrible when my dad died. I can't imagine losing my mom at the same time too."

"I went through a pretty rough time for a while," she admitted. "Danny had just gotten married and didn't have a lot of time for me. It was Lily who actually helped me out."

"How?"

"She was my roomie," Michelle said, a smile on her face. "She refused to let me be alone. She would drag me to parties, bars, everywhere she could think of to cheer me up."

"Did it work?"

Michelle chuckled. "Yeah, too well. I found out that alcohol can numb the pain. I started partying, skipping classes. My grades dropped." She shook her head. "I went from one extreme to the other."

Tony couldn't remember the exact number, but did know from her personnel file that she had graduated top of her class with a very high G.P.A. He was surprised by her admission. "How did you get straightened out again?"

"Lily. She was great at turning me onto partying and drinking, and great at reminding me what I was throwing away."

"She sounds like a good friend," Tony commented.

"She's the best," Michelle said softly.

Their food arrived and the conversation turned to lighter subjects. Tony couldn't believe how easy and natural it felt being with her. He was more relaxed than he had been in days. He could barely stop the grin threatening to overwhelm him every second.


	26. Chapter 26

_This chapter is rated M for sexual content… finally! And sorry that I have never put a disclaimer on any of my chapters, so here it is:_

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters of 24. If I did, Tony and Michelle would certainly be alive and kicking this season! _

_Thanks for all the reviews! I love them and appreciate them! _

Chapter Twenty-Six

The dinner went perfectly and when Tony suggested they see a movie, Michelle was surprised at her boldness by asking, "Do you want to rent one and watch it at my place?"

He hesitated for a second, and the nodded. "Sure. Good idea."

Michelle wasn't sure what motivated her to suggest that, but the thought of sitting in a dark theatre didn't appeal as much as sitting on her couch at home, alone, with him. They drove to a nearby Blockbuster and spent the next thirty minutes trying to find a movie neither one of them had seen. They finally settled on "How to lose a guy in 10 days."

"This is a chick-flick," Michelle reminded him. "Are you sure?"

Tony nodded, a cute smile on his face. "I'll sacrifice, but next time…"

Michelle laughed and headed for the check-out counter. Her heart quickened at his words of "next time."

Tony picked up a bag of popcorn and asked, "Do you have any at your place?"

"No," she said, cringing. She barely had anything at her place.

He put it on the counter along with the movie. "Can't watch a movie without popcorn."

She glanced at it. Butter-lovers. "If you eat this at every movie you watch, how do you not get fat?"

He grinned, slung an arm around her shoulders and said, "It's called the gym, baby."

She laughed, but was secretly excited by him calling her "baby." As they walked out the door said, "I don't have time for the gym, but I do run a lot and swim when I have the time."

"Seems to be working," he said, flirting.

Michelle smiled at him and playfully smacked in him the arm. She knew she was in for an interesting evening. Outside of work Tony was much more attractive, and slightly scarier, than work Tony. Work Tony was serious, focused, and Michelle always knew where she stood with him. Outside of work Tony she didn't know, and while she was excited to discover this other side of him, it also scared her. She was falling way too deep, too fast.

They laughed and joked the entire ride back to Michelle's place. Once there she offered to make coffee, something she could actually make well.

"Sure," Tony said. "I'd love some."

Michelle made the coffee while Tony got the movie ready in the living room. She didn't even hear him come up behind her and put his arms around her waist. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of his arms around her.

"As sexy as you look," Tony whispered, his lips close to her neck. "You won't be comfortable watching a movie in this dress. Why don't you change into something else?"

Michelle could barely breathe, so affected she was by his nearness. Taking a deep breath from deep inside her, she turned around in his arms and looked into his eyes. He immediately leaned down and kissed her, softly at first and then more intensely. She wrapped her left arm around his waist and her right around his neck, running her hand through his hair. His arms tightened around her, pulling her as close to his body as possible. Michelle could feel her body responding to the moment and wondered if coming back here was such a good idea. At least in a movie theatre there was only so much they could do.

Eventually Tony loosened his hold on her and she pulled back. Licking her lips, she whispered, "I'll go get changed."

Tony watched her walk upstairs and used the time to let out a deep breath. She was turning him on so much; it probably wasn't such a good idea to come back here. He was serious about Michelle, truly cared about her more than just physically, and didn't want to ruin anything that could possibly happen between them by rushing into anything. But he wanted her, physically, bad.

Sighing, Tony poured a cup of coffee and started making the popcorn while he waited for her to change. Wanting to get more comfortable himself, Tony pulled his shirt out of his pants and took his shoes off. He settled on the couch, pushed play on the DVD and watched the menu pop up for the movie. A chick-flick. He must have it bad. Actually, Rick had seen the movie and said it was pretty funny, making it tolerable to watch. But he'd never admit it to Michelle; there were certain things that one did not reveal.

"Did you get a cup yet?" Michelle called to him as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah," he answered and then sucked in a breath as she walked into the living room. As sexy as she had been in that dress, she was downright distracting now in a pair of green pajamas with dragonflies. The top was small, falling maybe an inch or two below her chest and revealing her almost-flat stomach. She had a belly-button ring he never knew about. The bottoms sat low on her hips and flowed to her ankles. This was the sexiest he'd seen her.

"How long have you had a belly-button ring?" he asked, trying to stop his hands from reaching out and touching her.

She grinned, looking down at it. "A few years ago I lost a dare during a pretty serious card game. This was my punishment," she said, flopping down beside him. "Don't ever tell Lily, but I really wanted one anyway, so it wasn't much of a punishment."

Tony laughed, putting his arm around her, unable to not do anything. He felt her lean into him and laughed even harder when he saw her slippers. They were white bunnies with pink balls on the back for tails.

Michelle wiggled her feet as she saw the reason for his laughter, which caused him to laugh a little more. She was too cute.

The microwave went off and she jumped up to get the popcorn. He got up and followed her. She grabbed a bowl out of the cabinet and Tony opened the bag of popcorn.

"You know," Michelle said, "I have another pair of slippers if your feet get cold. A green pair of frogs, complete with yellow tongue."

Tony looked over at her and saw her lips turned up in a mischievous smile. He narrowed his eyes at her and made a move to grab her. She must have anticipated his move and she was out of the kitchen before he could blink. He turned around and saw her standing in the hallway, ready for flight should he proceed. Tony knew he was faster than she was, but thought the chase would be more fun than catching her right off the bat.

He went for her, slowly in his mind, and hid a grin as Michelle turned and fled up the stairs, laughing. She was always cheerful at work and could definitely laugh occasionally, but he had never seen her playful like this before. He loved it.

Tony charged up the stairs and looked around the room. She was nowhere to be found, but both the bathroom and the closet doors were closed. He paused, trying to hear which room she was in. Hearing nothing, he went for the closest door, the bathroom, and opened it quickly.

Empty.

Unless she was actually hiding in the tub. He couldn't see past the shower curtain. He looked back towards the closet door. If he actually went into the bathroom to look behind the curtain and she was in the closet, that would give her time to make it back downstairs, which would be unacceptable. However, if he didn't check the shower and went for the closet, and she really was in the shower, she'd have the same opportunity.

_Which one is it?_ He asked himself right before he heard a muffled noise coming from the closet. _Ah ha!_

He slowly walked towards the closet and flung open the door. The room was pitch black and he couldn't see anything. Two rows of clothes stood on either side of him and he knew she was hiding under one of them. From the light of the bedroom behind him Tony could see a hanging string from the light bulb for the closet. He made a lunge for it, grabbing it in time to turn the light on, but not before Michelle grabbed his legs and pulled him down.

Tony laughed as he was able to grab her arm on his way down, the look on her face priceless. Did she actually think she'd be able to knock him down and run away that quickly?

Michelle laughed and struggled to get loose, but Tony pulled her to the ground with him and pinned her beneath him. "You wanna play games, huh?" he teased, putting both her arms above her head and holding both hands down with one of his. With his other hand he started tickling her waist. He got the immediate response he was looking for as she started laughing hysterically and fighting against him.

"Ticklish, are we?" he laughed, having to stop momentarily to keep his grip on her. He straddled her, keeping her body down with his lower body as he went back to tickling her stomach. She was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Please," she gasped. "No more! Tony!"

"Where else are you ticklish?" he wondered out-loud.

"No! No—nowhere else," she lied.

"I don't believe you," he chuckled, moving his hands down to her feet. She immediately used her now-free hands to try to stop him, which resulted in a wrestling match.

Tony didn't know when he had last laughed so hard. Michelle gave a good fight, but she was still much weaker than he and before long he had her pinned to the floor again. He was directly overtop of her and held her down with his legs again, but this time his upper body was also holding her down. He could feel her breasts beneath him and the shape of her body under his, and Tony immediately went from laughing to barely breathing in mere seconds. He looked down into her eyes and saw she was affected as well. Her face and chest were still heaving from laughing so hard, but her eyes were dark and sensual.

Inviting.

Tony leaned down and kissed her fiercely, his hands holding both of hers above her head. She leaned into his kiss, pushing her tongue into his mouth and making him break out in a sweat. He could feel himself getting turned on, and wondered how wise it was being directly on her. Michelle was bound to feel how turned on he was. Tony shifted his body off hers to the side, not wanting to scare her off or try to rush her. He wanted nothing more than make mad, passionate love to her right then and there, but he was scared of pushing her. What if she wasn't ready for that? He normally didn't have sex on the first date, but then again, he had never been out with a woman he had been nursing a serious crush on for the past year, seeing almost every single day but unable to do anything about it.

Michelle was still kissing him, her hands flying from his hair down to his back and up again as he had released her hands seconds ago. He had one hand supporting the back of her head and the other on her lower back, unable to stop from pushing her into him.

He allowed himself another minute of sweet bliss before pulling back. She looked up at him questioningly. "I think I'd better stop before it's too late," he whispered honestly.

She surprised him by whispering back, "Please don't stop."

He searched her eyes, unsure if he should believe her or not. Tony didn't want her to regret anything just because she was in the heat of the moment.

"Tony," she whispered, her face flushed. "I know what I'm agreeing to. And I could never regret it."

"Are you sure?" he asked, wanting desperately to believe her but scared to as well.

She nodded slowly, reaching one hand up to place on the side of his face. "I know it's fast, but I know I could never regret having sex with you."

Michelle couldn't believe she said those words, but she did mean them. She wanted Tony more than anything right now. She looked deep into his eyes, willing him to believe her. She wasn't the type to beg for sex or anything, but she knew Tony wanted it as much as she did but was scared of rushing her. She was scared of rushing them too, but the moment was here.

He leaned down and started kissing her again, swooping her up in his arms and standing up. She vaguely wondered how he had the strength to stand up with her in his arms. Tony walked them back into the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed, breaking their kiss. She boldly reached out and started unbuttoning his shirt, looking him in the eyes the whole time. They were dark and cloudy, passionate. Once down with the buttons, Tony took his shirt off and threw it on the ground. He was wearing a white t-shirt underneath and he quickly discarded that as well.

Michelle sucked her breath in at the sight of his bare chest. It was muscular, taking her breath away. She leaned up and circled her arms around his back, laying her head against his bare chest and kissing the side of it. She felt Tony's hands reach down and grasp the end of her top, so she lifted her arms above her head and allowed him to take it off her. Michelle shivered, mostly from anticipation, and looked down, feeling slightly self-consciences. Her nipples were hard and erect, from the cold and the excitement.

Tony's hand reached under her chin and forced her to look up at him. His eyes were not on her chest, but on her eyes and she felt herself melt into them. She lay back on the bed and Tony crawled on top of her. They began kissing again, but Tony quickly moved his lips down to her neck, sucking gently on her sensitive skin. His hands moved softly over her stomach and up to cup her breasts. She shivered again at his touch, loving how gentle he was. His lips moved down to her nipples and he slowly teased her, licking and nibbling on each one.

Michelle squirmed in anticipation. She could feel how hard Tony was and loved knowing it was her that was making him that way. As he continued to shower her upper body and neck with kisses, Michelle turned her head to one side and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe she was finally doing this with Tony. The man she had watched for a year now, almost every single day, and dreamed about. How could she be so lucky?

Tony groaned and sucked harder on her neck, hard enough to probably leave a mark. Michelle didn't care and she closed her eyes, loving the feel of him under her fingers. She wanted to rip his boxers off, but forced herself to take it slow and thoroughly enjoy this first time.

His lips still on her neck, Tony reached down and quickly pulled her pajama bottoms off, kicking them off the bed to the floor. Michelle only owned thongs and the one she was wearing tonight was one of her favorites: a light purple silky one that tied on the sides. Tony stopped kissing her, leaned up on one elbow and looked down at her appreciatively.

"God, Michelle, you are so beautiful," he whispered, his hand rubbing her stomach softly. His thumb brushed the edge of the thong, just barely going underneath.

"Thank you," she whispered, grabbing his head with both her hands and pulling him down on top of her. She moaned as she felt his hard body touch hers, barely able to stop the shiver of excitement at the thought of that hardness exploring her body.

They started kissing again and exploring with their hands. Tony's hands were unable to explore her much as their bodies were so close together, but his lips moved over her neck and upper chest again. After a moment, he moved his lips down to her bellybutton, flicking her ring as he went by. He was too far down her body for her to touch him anymore, so Michelle used one hand to rub his hair and the other to grip the comforter.

Tony stopped as he got to her thong, and Michelle glanced down at him seductively. His eyes looked sexily up at her as he went to one side and undid the ties on one side with his teeth. He then moved to the other side and undid that one with his teeth as well. The only thing separating him from her was to pull back the thin silky purple material.

Closing her eyes, Michelle stifled a moan as he removed the last barrier between them, both on her and on himself. Her resolve not to make a noise didn't last when Tony started kissing her body again, exploring it with his hands and mouth. He was driving her crazy and she felt her body responding to his touch. She buried her hands in the pillow behind her head, and alternated between opening or closing her eyes, wanting to watch what he was doing but being too turned on to keep it up.

Mere minutes later Michelle climaxed and she collapsed against the bed, amazed at how quickly he had accomplished this. Tony crawled on top of her, kissing her body the entire way up. When he reached her face he kissed her eyelids and she opened them to gaze intensely in his eyes. Maintaining eye contact, Michelle felt Tony move her legs open and she held her breath as he entered her slowly. His gaze was so intense that it was almost more than what he was physically doing to her.

They fell into a rhythm and Michelle knew she was in heaven. It felt so perfect being with him like this. She had slept with a few men in her lifetime and while they were good, she didn't remember sex feeling as good with them as it did with Tony. He was so gentle, but knew how to take control. Her body had fallen quickly into a natural rhythm with his. She could feel herself getting close again and wondered how he could do this to her so quickly. With the exception of one of her boyfriends, none of them knew how to get her off through intercourse. Tony pushed her over the edge and she couldn't resist screaming out in ecstasy.

Tony had been holding himself back as much as possible, wanting to take her over again, but as soon as he felt, and heard, her climax he let himself go as well. He moaned from the intensity of it, closing his eyes as his body shuttered. His arms tightened around Michelle and smiled in satisfaction.

He opened his eyes and looked down into her face, leaning down to kiss her when he saw her eyes still close. He was too spent to do more than kiss her softly. She looked up at him and smiled shyly.

"Michelle," he whispered. "That was incredible."

She laughed softly and rubbed her hands through his hair. "Yeah, just a little."

He climbed off her and lay beside her on the bed, playing with some of her unruly curls. "I certainly didn't plan on that happening, but I'm not complaining."

"Me neither, on both accounts," she admitted. She suddenly felt very shy and nervous, amazed that she had just had sex with Tony. While she had certainly dreamed of doing it with him, she never thought she would be doing it so soon.

She looked up into his eyes and felt her fears melt away. Too soon or not, she did not regret their actions. Michelle couldn't believe it, but she knew she was in love with him.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Michelle leaned up on one elbow and Tony tried not to stare at her gorgeous body. "Want to get a shower with me?"

He grinned. "I'd love to."

Tony followed her into the bathroom, admiring her body and trying not to pinch himself. If he was dreaming, he didn't want to wake up. He stepped into the shower behind her and put his arms around her, hugging her close and kissing the top of her head.

Michelle started talking and Tony tried to follow her conversation, trying to stop himself from being distracted from her body and what had just happened. He never truly believed he'd ever have a chance to actually make love to her, nor dreamed how good it would feel to be inside her. He sighed and bit his lip.

"What's wrong?"

Tony pulled his thoughts back to the present. "Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just happy for the first time in a long time."

She smiled sweetly at his words and Tony mentally congratulated himself for saying the right thing. He could face anybody professionally and hold his own in their conversations, but he wasn't always so articulate with women personally. Especially Michelle. She always threw him off.

Michelle said something about her neice and Tony felt like cold water had been thrown over him. Protection. They hadn't used any. What was he thinking? He wasn't worried about diseases- both of them were regularly tested as part of their jobs- but what about protection against a baby?

Maybe she was on the pill. _Oh please be on the pill!_ He thought anxiously. How could he be so stupid?

_Can't do anything about it now,_ he told himself. _Get yourself back into the conversation or she's going to think something's wrong._

It took effort, but Tony pushed those worrisome thoughts away and regained focus on Michelle. He'd find a way to ask her later about if she was on the pill or not.

The rest of their evening was spent watching the movie they had rented and then going to bed. Michelle took his hand and led Tony back upstairs, where they both discarded their clothes and feel asleep in each other's arms. No discussion was had about Tony going home, nor did Tony feel comfortable enough to bring up the subject of birth control.

A ringing cell phone woke both of them up hours later. Sunlight streamed through the windows and a glance at the clock told Tony it was after eight in the morning. He reached for his phone and answered it, his voice groggy with sleep.

"Almeida."

"Tony, it's Jack."

Tony tried to wake up and focus. "Hey, Jack. How are you?"

Michelle shifted, leaning down and kissing his shoulder. He smiled at her and kissed her head.

"Feeling better, thanks," Jack replied. "I'm sorry to call you on a Sunday morning, but I was wondering if you were going into C.T.U. today?"

Tony glanced down at Michelle, who was kissing his chest and exploring parts of his body with her hands. He tried to focus back on Jack, but it was hard. "Umm, no, I wasn't planning on it, but I know the construction crew is working 24/7 there. Why?"

"They are?" Jack said. "Good. I decided to take Chappelle's offer and wanted to start working on some stuff."

Tony sucked in a breath when Michelle moved her lips lower than his chest. He tightened his free hand around her hair, closing his eyes. "Uh, that's great, Jack."

"Are you okay, Tony?" Jack asked. "You sound distracted."

Michelle giggled, obviously having heard Jack. Tony shook his head to silence her and said to Jack, "Just trying to wake up. Sorry. I'm glad you're taking the job, Jack."

"Yeah, guess we'll be working together a lot," Jack said.

Tony shifted in bed, pulling Michelle back up so she'd stop distracting him. "Yeah, guess we will."

"Well, I'll let you go. Sorry I woke you up," Jack said.

"It's okay," Tony said, kissing Michelle's neck and making her giggle again.

"Is someone with you?" Jack asked.

"Uh, no," Tony said quickly. "Listen, Jack, I'm going to get a shower. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," Jack said unconvincingly. "See ya."

Tony hung up and threw his phone across the bed. "What do you think you're doing? I can't talk when you're doing that!"

"Why not?" she giggled again. "I don't see the problem."

Tony growled playfully and rolled her over, pinning her to the bed. He leaned down and started kissing her forcefully, roaming over her body like she had been doing earlier. Michelle tried fighting him, but she was enjoying it too much to put up a fight. She stopped fighting him and kissed him back, ensuing another passionate lovemaking session.

In fact they never did get out of Michelle's apartment that day. They spent most of the morning in bed and only ventured downstairs when they got hungry.

"Don't you have anything to make breakfast?" Tony asked, looking in her fridge.

Michelle sat on the counter and sighed. "I'm not much of a cook, Tony. I usually buy breakfast on my way in to work."

Tony turned to look back at her. "You buy breakfast every day?"

"Well, there's cereal and milk," she offered.

"Okay," he said, shaking his head. "We're definitely going to need to work on this, Michelle."

She giggled and hopped off the counter, grabbing two bowls out of a cabinet. Tony grabbed the milk out of the fridge and set it on the counter, playfully slapping her bottom as she bent over to grab the cereal boxes.

"Okay," she said. "We have Raisin Bran, Applejacks and Captain Crunch."

"Applejacks," he decided.

They settled on bar stools against the counter to eat. Tony was still in a playful mood, but wasn't surprised by the conversation Michelle started up. He knew they needed to have it, but wasn't sure what to say.

"Where is this headed, Tony?" she asked as she ate her Captain Crunch. "I mean, I just want to know what you're thinking. I don't want to presume anything."

"Michelle, I don't really know where this is going," he admitted, wanting to be honest. "But I'm not just playing games with you, either. I really like you and don't want you to think I'm just using you for sex or something."

She smiled, looking away for a second. "I really like you too, Tony. I'm not playing games either, but I am concerned if we should be doing this. I mean, you are my boss and---"

He cut her off, trying to allevate her fears. "Don't worry about that, Michelle. We shouldn't let work interfere with our personal lives."

"But it does," she argued. "No matter how hard we try, it does interfere. As much as I want this to happen, and believe me I do, do you realize the ramifications this will cause at work? Chappelle will---"

"I know it will be difficult with work, and I don't know if we're being smart or not about that," Tony told her. "But I for one am not going to let C.T.U. dictate my entire life. I am not going to throw away a potential relationship because of work."

Michelle smiled, nodding. "I know. I guess I'm just worried. I mean, this is great and everything, but tomorrow we'll have to go back to work and pretend nothing happened between us."

"For now, yes, until we decide what's going on between us," Tony agreed. "It won't be easy to pretend and keep my hands off you."

She smiled at his attempt at humor, but Tony could still see she was disturbed by it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the sofa. Still keeping her hand in his, Tony said, "Listen, Michelle, it's going to be okay. I think you and I could have something pretty special, but we have to play it by ear at work. Don't let it bother you."

Michelle thought about his words for a second and nodded, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "Okay."

Tony wrapped his arms around her and sucked gently on her neck, careful not to leave a mark. She giggled as she was ticklish on her neck and settled into his arms, feeling comfortable and safe.

"Uh, Michelle," Tony said after a minute.

She lifted her head and looked up at him. He looked serious again. "Yeah?"

"Um, I don't really know how to ask this, uh," he started and Michelle could see he was nervous about something. "I can't believe I didn't think of this, but, uh, are you on the pill or anything?"

Michelle looked at him in surprise, and then shock. They hadn't used protection, any of the times they'd had sex.

Shit.

"I mean, you don't have to worry about STDs," he hurried on quickly. "But, uh, I wasn't sure if you, ah…"

She wasn't on the pill. Why didn't she think of using a condom? Damn! She knew better.

"Michelle?" he asked.

She looked up and focused on him again. "Sorry, Tony. I can't believe I didn't even think of that. Um, no, I'm not on the pill."

Silence hung between them as they thought what this could mean.

Tony pushed a curl behind her ear. "I'm sorry, Michelle, this is my fault. I should have---"

Michelle silenced him quickly, "No, no, Tony, we both are to blame. I didn't think about it either."

"What are we going to do about it?" he asked softly.

She shook her head. "Nothing to do about it, Tony. What's done is done. I'll make an appointment with my doctor so I can get on the pill. Until then, we'll have to use condoms."

"Have you ever been on the pill?" he asked.

"Yeah, in college," she answered. "But after Mike and I broke up, I went off it. No use taking it every day when you're not having sex."

"I don't want you to have to get on it if you didn't---"

"No, it's okay," she said. "I personally hate condoms, so I'd rather take a little pill every day than use those things permanently."

Tony smiled and kissed her briefly. Her willingness to take drastic steps by going to the doctor and going on the pill meant she felt they were headed into a serious, long-term relationship. He didn't know how wise they were being, but he couldn't help himself feeling excited at the prospect. "I guess I'd better run to the store then."

Michelle looked up into his eyes and laughed at the mischievousness in them.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Monday morning dawned bright and early. Tony had spent the night again at Michelle's, which meant they both had to get up earlier than normal so Tony could stop by his house for clean clothes.

"I'll see you this afternoon," he whispered as he said good-bye at her door. She was going to Division this morning for the interviews while he and Jack worked back at C.T.U. She was envious of them, as she did not want to go to Division and possibly face Carrie again.

"And don't worry about Carrie," he added on his way out, as if reading her mind. "You'll be too busy with those interviews to even talk to her."

Michelle gave him a smile and another kiss good-bye. She finished getting dressed and made her way to Division, knowing today was going to be a long day. As she drove she let herself worry about the fact that she and Tony had had sex many times without the use of protection. What if she got pregnant?

Oh my God, that was the last thing she needed! She was trying to start a relationship with the man she knew she was in love with… a baby would ruin everything.

_Okay, think, Michelle,_ she told herself. She did the calculations in her head and knew that in two weeks she should get her period. She was always regular, so she'd know then.

Sighing, Michelle turned on the radio and tried to redirect her thoughts to the day ahead. Like she told Tony last night, there was nothing they could do at this point.

Thirty-five minutes later Michelle parked at Division, grabbed her laptop and headed inside. She passed through security and made her way to Chappelle's office.

"Hi, Michelle," Chappelle said when she knocked on his door.

"Hi, Mr. Chappelle. Where will I be able to conduct my interviews?" she asked.

Chappelle exited his office and started walking down a hallway. Michelle kept her gaze on the end of the hall, avoiding looking towards the door that led to the I.T. department where Carrie worked.

"You can use this office," Chappelle said, stopping at a corner office. "I'll have Security route your interviewees up here."

"Thanks," she said, setting her briefcase and laptop down on the desk.

"How many people are you interviewing?" he asked, lingering in the doorway.

Michelle turned on her laptop and looked up at him. "Twelve. One every half hour."

"Good," he said. "Stop by my office on your way out and let me know how it goes."

"No problem," she said and sat down behind the desk as he walked away. She glanced at her watch and had twenty minutes to get herself prepared for a long day.

It was after three o'clock when Michelle was ready to leave Division. She had a raging headache, but there were a few good possibilities that came from the interviews. She had gotten Chappelle's opinion and would go over them with Tony as well before calling anyone back for a second interview. That one would be conducted by Tony, with her sitting in as well.

Michelle breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the garage button. Not only had the interviews gone fairly well, but she hadn't seen Carrie either. That was a definite perk to the day. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to go back to Division headquarters for a very long time, thus avoiding Carrie even further.

She barely suppressed a groan when the elevator door swung open on the 3rd floor and Carrie walked in. _Why?_

Michelle gritted her teeth and stared straight ahead, avoiding her eyes.

"Hi, Michelle," she said sarcastically, as usual. "How are you?"

"Don't even bother trying to play the polite game, Carrie," Michelle said.

"Wow, are you always this grouchy any more?" Carrie asked. "I'd think sleeping with the boss would put you in a better mood."

Michelle whirled her head around and glared at her. "Who do you think you are? Stop trying to intimidate me, Carrie, because you're wasting your breath."

"Oh, the kitten has grown claws," Carrie mocked. "I'll be sure to tell Chappelle that when I inform him of you and Tony's little meeting in the hallway last week."

Michelle smirked at her, determined not to let her see how worried Chappelle finding out made her. "Don't threaten me, Carrie. You can tell Chappelle whatever you want to. You have no proof of what happened anyway, so I'd be careful if you value your job. Tony and I were key players in adverting disaster with that Cyprus tape; who do you think Chappelle is going to believe?"

Carrie paled a little, much to Michelle's satisfaction. "We'll see."

Michelle stepped out of the elevator and headed for her car without another word. Her heart pounded for the encounter, but she was glad she stood up for herself and put Carrie in her place. If only her threat worked. She and Tony would be in hot water if Chappelle found out.

_He'll find out eventually anyway,_ she thought, _if things continue the way they are with Tony._

This brought a smile to her face as she reached for her cell phone.

Tony settled back in his chair and rubbed a hand across his forehead. Jack had gone downstairs to get them both a coke from the vending machine, as they were in dire need of some caffeine to continue. A good amount of progress had been made between the two of them as they mapped out how their separate departments would work, but there were still issues they needed to finish addressing.

His mind wandered to Michelle and it brought a smile to his face for the first time all day. Tony still couldn't believe the weekend they had had together. He had never been so happy in his life, even when he was with Nina. Michelle seemed to fit perfectly in his life and he knew he loved her, even if he hadn't told her yet. He didn't want to scare her off; even though he had the feeling she felt the same way about him. How could two people fall so quickly in love? Although, they had been flirting with each other for over a year now, he guessed it didn't take long when they finally gave in to the sparks. And what an explosion it caused.

Tony's thoughts were interrupted when his cell phone rang. "Almeida."

"Hey, it's me."

He smiled broadly. "I was just thinking about you."

"Really?" she asked. "Good or bad?"

"Oh, definitely good," he said. "Well, on the second thought, maybe they were bad…"

She laughed at his playfulness. "Now, now, Almeida, we're working here. Concentrate."

"Slave driver," he teased. "Okay, how did the interviews go?"

"Pretty well. I have a couple good possibilities," she said. "I went over them with Chappelle since he can't not stick his nose into everything."

He laughed as Jack walked back in the room. "Yeah, that's Chappelle for you."

"I'm on my way over to you right now. How's it going with Jack?"

"Good," he said.

Jack sat back down and opened his coke, waiting for Tony to finish up his conversation.

As much as he wanted to keep talking to her, he knew he needed to get back to work. "Okay, well, I'll see you when you get here. Just come up to my office."

"Okay. See ya soon."

"Bye." Tony hung up and placed his phone on the desk, reaching for his coke at the same time.

"Michelle?" Jack asked.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. She's done with the interviews and headed over here to help out."

"Good," Jack replied. "I wanted to thank her for her help last week. I'd have never made it without her."

"Yeah, she was a huge contributor to making it through that day. I couldn't have done it without her," Tony admitted, leaning back in his chair.

"What exactly changed your mind anyway?" Jack asked. "I mean, Michelle indicated from our conversations that she was going behind your back to do this. What happened to change your mind?"

"Well, I didn't think Syed Ali was credible enough to believe, especially after our experts confirmed the authentity of the recording," Tony explained. "But as everything started happening, I knew the recording had to be a fake or no one would go through the trouble of trying to kill Wallace or destroy the source recordings."

Jack nodded. "I know you were just trying to do the right thing, Tony. I'm sorry I had to go behind your back, but Wallace gave me little choice."

Tony nodded. "Don't worry about it, although in the future I hope we can trust each other enough to avoid anything like that again."

Jack nodded. "Absolutely."

Tony finished his drink and sat back up. "Okay, so let's get back at it."

Michelle walked up to Tony's office, nervously trying to fix her hair. She didn't know why she was nervous, but she was. She couldn't stand being away from Tony after the weekend they shared, but it was like sweet agony when they are together and she couldn't play the girlfriend role here. She was going to hate having to hide their relationship.

She pushed open his door and smiled at the two men. "Hey, Tony, Jack."

"Hey Michelle," they both said.

Michelle sat down, trying to avoid Tony's eyes, as she was nervous about giving away her feelings by even looking at him. "How you feeling, Jack?"

"Better," he replied. "Thanks for all your help the other day, Michelle. I couldn't have done it without you."

She smiled at him. "You're welcome."

"Michelle, we've been discussing the current profiles in our active system," Tony said, staying completely business-like. "Here's where we are so far…"

Michelle nodded, following along with them and contributing to the conversation. They went over each profile and where they were in the investigations. She quickly noticed that Jack was more than just good in the field; he had an excellent mind and years of experience as a prior director of C.T.U. Her respect for him started growing even more.

At one point in the conversation Tony leaned over her to grab a file and Michelle felt her face flame at the closeness. She looked over to see Jack's eyes on her and she smiled nervously. _Oh, God, does he know?_

She bit her lip and forced her mind back to the conversation. She prayed their meeting would end early so she could escape. This was torture. And it was only Monday. How would she get through the rest of the week? She suppressed a groan.

It was almost six when they called it a day. Tony was surprised at how well he handled himself with Michelle despite the sparks flying between them. He could tell she was nervous and wished he could have had time to calm her down. Neither of them had pre-arranged to meet at either of their apartments and he didn't have a chance to make any plans with her now. He'd have to settle calling her later or going over to her place. After spending all weekend with her he wondered if he was pushy for wanting to be with her tonight as well.

"See you tomorrow," she called to both him and Jack as she gathered her purse and briefcase.

"Bye," Tony said softly.

"Bye, Michelle," Jack called.

Tony started packing up his stuff, watching Michelle walk down the stairs and out of the bullpen. She was so damn gorgeous. He tried to suppress the grin threatening to break out, remembering the several times they had made love over the weekend.

Jack caught him off guard when he broke the silence, "So, what's going on between you two?"

Tony froze. "Who?"

Jack chuckled. "Come on, Tony. You know who I mean."

"Michelle?" he asked, trying to feign surprise. "Nothing's going on."

"Bull shit," Jack said bluntly, sitting on the edge of Tony's desk. "I'd be rich right now if I had a dollar for every time you two tried not to look at each other today."

Tony wasn't sure what to say. He felt like the preverbal deer caught in the headlights.

"Look, Tony, what you do is your business," Jack went on. "I like Michelle a lot. She seems like a nice girl, and she's definitely beautiful. But after what happened with Nina---"

"Jack, don't even compare Michelle to Nina," Tony cut in, and then sighed. "Look, I know it's dangerous, but she's nothing like Nina, Jack."

It was Jack's turn to sigh. "How long?"

"Officially since the day of the bomb," he admitted. "But we were both attracted to each other from the first day we met, really. I held off because of my fiasco with Nina."

"Is it serious?" Jack asked.

Tony looked back to where Michelle had been. "Yeah. I know it's crazy and too soon, but yeah, I think it's serious."

Jack got a far-away look in his eyes. "Sometimes it's like that. I loved Teri the moment I met her."

Tony was surprised at his admission, as Jack wasn't exactly a romantic type of guy. "I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack shook his head. "Don't be, Tony. I can't keep living in the past. If you and Michelle love each other, don't let it slip away. I don't think it's wise with you both working here, but then again, maybe that's a good thing. There were so many things that I couldn't tell Teri, that she wouldn't or couldn't understand. Does anyone else know?"

"No," Tony said. "I'd like to keep it that way, at least for now. No matter how deep our feelings, it still is new and we don't know how to proceed right now."

"I understand," Jack said. "I won't tell anyone, but if you want to keep it a secret, you'd better find a way to think of her as your sister or something while at work."

Tony laughed. "I don't think that's possible."

Jack slapped him on the back. "Then you'd better find a way to tell Chappelle."

Tony groaned.

Jack laughed at him and started to leave his office. "I'm happy for you, Tony. I know Nina's betrayal had to hurt you too, so I'm glad you found someone who can make you happy."

"Thanks, Jack," Tony said softly.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Michelle closed her front door behind her and threw her keys on the kitchen counter. She sat down on the couch and sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing her hands through her hair. The apartment was very quiet and she felt lonely.

She didn't want to be alone.

_Stop feeling sorry for yourself,_ she thought harshly. _It's your fault that you didn't ask him._

She had wanted to ask Tony if he wanted to get some dinner, but she didn't want to seem too pushy. After all, the man had spent all weekend with her. He'd probably want some time away from her.

_Get up and do something,_ she told herself wearily. She knew she'd fall asleep if she stayed on the couch. Remembering her doctor's office had one late night a week, but not sure which day it was, Michelle picked up her phone. She looked at the business card she had on the side of her refrigerator and dialed the number.

"Good evening. Doctors Edwards and Cain's office."

_Wow, I must have picked the right night._ "Hi, I need to make an appointment with Dr. Cain please."

Michelle made an appointment for next Monday night and hung up the phone. She wasn't sure whether she and Tony's relationship would stay at the pace they set this weekend, but since she never had any adverse effects from taking birth control pills, she didn't mind going back on them.

Thirty minutes later she was back on the couch, a frozen dinner consumed. She wondered if Tony was still at work or not; thought about calling him. _Don't smother him_.

Her cell phone rested on her leg.

_You're pathetic._

She decided to ignore the skipping heartbeat when her phone rang five minutes later. Smiling she picked it up, looked at the caller ID and was instantly disappointed.

"Hi, Lily," she said, hoping she didn't sound as disappointed as she felt.

"Hey! Why didn't you answer you phone yesterday?"

Michelle closed her eyes, feeling weary. She didn't want to talk about her weekend, even with Lily. She was very happy and very excited about it, and was afraid talking about it with anyone other than Tony would somehow diminish it, or jinx it.

"Uh, sorry, I was busy."

"Busy? Did you have to work?" Lily asked.

"No, ah, but---"

Lily interrupted, "Was Tony still with you?"

Michelle wondered how she could put her off. A beep sounded in her ear and she pulled her phone away to look at the caller ID. Tony. She smiled and put the phone back to her ear. "Lily, work's calling me. I gotta go."

"Michelle---"

Michelle cut her off, moving over to Tony, relieved she didn't have to answer to Lily right now and even more relieved that Tony had called her. "Hey."

"Hey. Whatcha doing?"

She smiled at his low, sexy voice. Closing her eyes she settled back into the couch pillows and answered, "Just sitting on the couch, falling asleep."

"Asleep? It's only seven thirty," he teased. "You must be getting old."

She chuckled. "Do I need to remind you that you're older than I am?"

"Nope, that's why I'm mentioning it," he joked. "I've been there before. Falling asleep at seven thirty after a long day at work."

"Are you just leaving C.T.U.?" she asked.

"I just got home, fed Jade," he responded. "Thinking of falling asleep too."

"Oh?"

His voice dropped even lower. "Thinking about you more."

She smiled. "I've been thinking of you too."

"Is it wrong that I want to see you again?" he asked softly.

Her heart pounding in her chest, Michelle whispered, "I want to see you too."

"Then why are we alone?" he asked.

Michelle chuckled again. At least she wasn't the only pathetic one. "I don't know. Why are we?"

"Stupid, I guess," he said. "Hey, hey, Jade, no! Drop it!"

"What is she doing?"

"Running off with one of my socks. She loves to take them and hi—. No, Jade! Stop!"

Michelle laughed, imaging the power struggle between Tony and his pit bull. "Is that your excuse for holes in your sock? Your dog eating them?"

Tony laughed. "How'd you know? She loves when I do laundry. I try to always take the clothes out when she's asleep, but she has this sixth sense for when I go for the dryer."

"She's smart," Michelle commented. "Do you need to go and take care of this?"

"No, I got the sock back and she's banned to the other room," Tony quipped. "So, where were we?"

Michelle smiled, biting her lip. "Umm… work?"

"I don't think so," Tony laughed. "We talk enough about that."

"I made a doctor's appointment for next week," Michelle told him, her heart pounding slightly, wondering at his reaction.

"You did?" Tony asked. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Uh, yeah, but not if you're changing you mind about---" Michelle started, feeling instantly hurt at his question. Didn't he want to continue this?

Tony cut her off, seeming to understand her reaction, "No, Michelle, I didn't mean it like that. Are you kidding? Of course I'm not changing my mind. I just meant if you were sure you wanted to put your body back on those chemicals."

Wondering why tears had filled her eyes at the thought of Tony not wanting her anymore, Michelle swallowed them and tried to turn the conversation to a lighter note again. "It's not that bad, Tony. Those chemicals are natural hormones produced by the body anyway. It just regulates them at the right dosage to trick your body."

"Hmmm," Tony said. "Whatever. Chemistry wasn't really my strong point in school."

"Actually, it would be biology where you'd learn that," Michelle laughed again, her heart and emotions back to normal. "Not that any woman doesn't learn this stuff by the time they're like eleven anyway."

"Either way, if you're sure…"

"I am."

"Good," he said quickly. "I hate wearing those stupid condoms."

Feeling her face flame slightly at those thoughts, Michelle asked, "You do, huh? Does that mean I have to wait until next week for some more sex?"

"Anxious, are we?" he teased, his voice dropping low again, making Michelle's entire body tingle.

"I'll never tell," she whispered, hoping her voice didn't sound as desperate as she felt.

Tony smiled in the darkness of his car, instantly relieved to know he was making the right choice in going over to her house. Seconds after he rescued his sock from Jade he had rubbed her head in goodbye, grabbed his keys and headed over to her house. From the beginning when Michelle said she wanted to see him too, he knew he was going over there. The reason Jade had even grabbed his sock in the first place was because he was throwing together an overnight bag. He hoped he wasn't being presumous, but from what Michelle was saying, he wasn't.

"Playing hard to get, huh?" he asked her presently, pulling into her complex.

"You can't prove anything," she teased.

"You sure about that?" he asked, his heart pounding a little in anticipation of surprising her. "I have a way with words, you know. That's why I'm so good at interrogating."

"You are, huh?" Michelle asked, chuckling.

Tony parked his car and closed the door quietly. He made his way up to her door and knocked on it. He bit his lip to hide the laughter when she groaned and said, "Hang on, Tony. Someone's at my door. If that's Lily, I'm going to kill----"

A moment of silence and Tony laughed this time, knowing she was looking at him from the peephole.

"Tony!" Michelle laughed, swinging open the door. "What…?"

He hung up his cell phone, took hers from her hand, pressing the end button and closing the phone. He closed the door behind him as he grabbed Michelle's arm gently, pushing her against the wall and kissing her hard.

After what seemed like eternity, Tony opened his eyes and broke the kiss. He looked down at Michelle and saw her watching him with big eyes. He rubbed his hand down the side of her cheek and leaned in again to kiss her. She responded hungrily, grabbing the back of his head with one hand and his butt with the other. Tony picked her up in his arms, never breaking the kiss, and headed upstairs. He dropped her carefully on the bed, his fingers instantly fumbling with the buttons on her blouse, felt her fingers working the buttons on his shirt.

Tony leaned away from her lips, taking a minute to admire her body again. She looked at him with seductive eyes as her hands reached behind her back to unclip her bra. It fell from her body and Tony grinned as he leaned down to kiss her. She moaned from the pleasure, squirming to try and remove his pants and hers as well. He barely even took the time to see what kind of thong she was wearing today; he pulled it off her body and resisted the urge to groan with desire for her. She scooted up onto the bed further and Tony dropped his boxers as he climbed up beside her.

Some time later Tony dropped onto the bed, exhausted and sweating. Michelle leaned over him, rubbing her hand softly over his chest. "You have a standing invitation to show up at my door anytime."

Tony chuckled. "I don't think I need to go to the gym if we keep this up."

Michelle kissed the tip of his nose and then jumped off the bed, heading for the bathroom. Tony laid where he was, admiring her body and amazed at how wonderful life had gotten. _Shit, Almeida, you should have asked her out months ago!_

Chuckling at his thoughts, Tony tried to get the energy to move from his position, but couldn't manage it. He was tired, but happy. And hungry. He grabbed his stomach and forced himself to move.

"Did you eat dinner yet?" he called to Michelle.

She emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a pink and white bathrobe. "One of Boston Market's finest."

He groaned and shook his head. "Woman, you have got to learn to cook. It's not that hard."

She turned and headed back to the bathroom, also shaking her head. "Not if you want to burn down the building."

He moved up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I don't understand how a computer genius, such as yourself, can be that bad in the kitchen?"

He watched her face fall a little in the mirror. "I'm not that domestic, Tony. I'm sorry."

"Hey, hey," he said quickly, moving her hair aside and kissing her neck. "I'm just teasing you. I don't care if you're domestic or not."

She looked at him warily in the mirror. "Really?"

"Really." He turned her around and grabbed the back of her neck with his hand, forcing her to look him in the face. "You're perfect the way you are, cook or no cook."

She gave him a little smile and reached up to kiss him softly. "You're very sweet."

"Don't let the secret out," he whispered. "I have a reputation to uphold, you know."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Seeing no other options available, Tony reluctantly ate a frozen dinner, much to Michelle's amusement. He moaned and groaned about it, but he wasn't as upset about it as he let on. He was so hungry at the moment he really didn't care what he ate.

"I need to tell you something," Tony said as he threw the container in the trash and followed Michelle back upstairs.

"What?" she asked, jumping on the bed and reaching for the remote. "You have ten minutes before _Will and Grace_ come on."

He chuckled and sat down beside her, tugging the blankets over them. "Geez, ten minutes, thanks!"

She playfully smacked his arm and looked at him expectantly. He looked away, wondering if she'd be upset or not, and then looked back at her. "Jack knows about us."

Michelle froze. If the situation wasn't serious Tony would have laughed at her expression. "Breathe, Michelle. It's okay. He said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"How did he find out? Did you tell him?" she asked finally.

Tony shook his head. "Only after he cornered me. Jack is good at reading people, Michelle. That's why he's so good at his job. He must have felt the vibes or something today because as soon as you left he pretty much accused me of it."

"Is he upset about it?" she asked.

"No. He was very supportive actually," Tony answered. "He knows my past and seemed happy for me."

She eyed him warily for a second, unsure of how she felt, and then must have accepted it because she said teasingly, "So even you are no match for Jack Bauer's interrogation tactics, huh?"

Tony laughed, but said seriously, "We need to talk about this, Michelle. Jack worked closely with us today and he knows me, so it wasn't so hard for him, but we have to decide whether we're going to tell people or not. We can try to hide it as long as we want, but someone's going to figure it out eventually. I'd rather just tell them and get open about it instead of trying to hide it. Besides, Carrie already knows and who knows when she'll tell Chappelle."

"I don't think she will, just yet anyway," Michelle said and quickly told him about her encounter with Carrie earlier that day.

"Good for you, baby," he said, a big smile lighting his face and Michelle melted inside at him calling her "baby."

"Thanks," she said softly. "Do you really think we need to tell people? I mean, Tony, we're not even sure what we're going here, let alone trying to explain it to someone else."

He eyed her carefully. Did she not get how much he wanted to be in a relationship with her? "I don't know about you, Michelle, but I know what I'm doing here."

She raised an eyebrow at him and curled up beside him. "And that would be?"

He kissed her forehead and whispered, "Falling in love with you."

Michelle's breath left her in a rush. She couldn't believe he had just said that. Tears welled in her eyes and to her embarrassment they fell down her cheeks. Tony tenderly wiped them away and asked, "Does that scare you?"

Deep inside Michelle knew that it didn't matter how short an amount of time they had been together. She loved him and he loved her, and that's all that mattered. She smiled brightly and whispered back, "I love you too, Tony."

His eyes narrowed and stared into hers for a moment before capturing her lips for a tender kiss. "I can't believe it, but I love you so much, Michelle," he whispered.

She moved closer into his body and put her arms around his waist, kissing him again passionately. As his hands and lips began to rove over her body again Michelle wondered when the last time was she had had so much sex. His hands moved lower on her body and all thoughts flew from her mind as she gave herself completely, mentally and physically, to Tony.

A loud annoying sound jarred Tony awake. He looked around in confusion and then hit Michelle's alarm clock, unsure where the snooze button was but figuring if he hit the entire thing it should work. Thankfully, the noise stopped and he sank lower into his pillow.

Michelle's hand moved to his chest and he felt her lips on his cheek. She was a morning person. _Great_, he inwardly groaned. He was not.

"Go back to sleep," she whispered. "I'm getting in the shower."

Tony pulled the blanket closer, nodding slightly. He felt her get up and move to the bathroom, then the shower turning on. His body might not realize it, but his mind was already awake. He remembered the night before and grinned into the pillow as he visualized Michelle's naked body. Sure, he could get another twenty minutes of sleep or he could join her in the shower. A quick glance at the clock showed they had ninety minutes before they had to be at work. With some luck and charm, maybe he could get lucky again before they went to work. Sex after work was great, but sex before work? He'd probably be the nicest boss in the world today.

He jumped from bed, all thoughts of sleep out of his mind, and made his way to the bathroom. Michelle smiled when he jumped in the shower with her and laughed when he made his intentions known.

"Are you nervous about the memorial today?" Michelle asked him as they got dressed later.

Tony sat on the bed, putting his socks on, and shrugged. "Yes and no. Talking in front of everyone, no. Getting through it without breaking down, yes."

She nodded seriously, slipping into a black suit with a white blouse. "I don't think I will make it through. You've been distracting me from all those thoughts and I'm going to have to face them today."

He slipped his feet into his shoes and went over to give her a hug. "I know. You've been doing the same to me. We will get through this day."

She held him close for a second longer. "I wish I could be close to you today at work; to help me get through it."

"Me too," Tony whispered, kissing the top of her head.

The finished getting ready in silence, both apprehensive about the day's events. They arrived at C.T.U. in their own vehicles and while Tony disappeared into the break room to get some coffee, Michelle headed for the bullpen. She saw Jack coming down the stairs from his new office, looking pretty good in a black suit.

"Morning Michelle."

Michelle smiled at Jack, trying to fight back the nervousness she felt by knowing he knew about her and Tony. "Good morning."

"Do you know what time Chappelle will be here?" Jack asked her, a folder in his hand.

Shaking her head, Michelle said, "I know the memorial starts at one o'clock, but I don't know when he'll get here. Most of the employees will be arriving after twelve. The construction crew was told they couldn't work from twelve to three."

Jack gave her a sad smile and nodded. "Thanks, Michelle."

Michelle turned back to her station, glad the bullpen was completely back to normal. The construction crew had done an amazing job in a short period of time. There were three different companies with several crews each working around the clock to get them back up and running at full capacity. A government agency had top priority.

Pushing a loose curl back behind her ear, Michelle began the process of moving all of Tony's remaining stuff from his old station up to his office. He had moved most of what he needed up there the other day, but he had left a few less important folders and binders done on his old desk that she wanted out of her way so she could get comfortable at her new desk.

Two hours later Michelle was satisfied with the results and settled into her new chair with a smile. She logged onto her computer and groaned as her schedule popped up. Not that she had forgotten, but it sucked to be reminded tonight would be another long night. She had those second interviews coming in this afternoon after the memorial. Eight of them, each lasting probably anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. The only bright spot was that at least Tony would be working late with her as well.

Tony was nervous as everyone gathered outside for the memorial. Chappelle was going to start the memorial service, but he was going to be giving his speech soon after. He smiled and shook hands, made small talk with others while they waited. He wasn't deliberately ignoring Michelle, but he couldn't seem to make his way over to her. Everyone kept stopping him, asking him questions about how C.T.U. would be run in the future with both him and Jack in command. He saw her glance his way several times, but she too seemed enveloped by co-workers as well.

Finally Chappelle climbed onto the makeshift stage at the edge of the parking lot and took the microphone. Tony took a seat beside Jack in the front row, mentally going over his speech and tuning out his boss. Jack nudged him a few minutes later and Tony stood up, heading for the stage. Chappelle took his seat beside Jack.

Tony glanced out over the parking lot full of C.T.U. employees, including key players from District and Division. He was surprised to see Wayne Palmer in attendance. He had naturally been informed that President Palmer had assigned his brother as his new Chief-of-Staff when Mike Novick had been dismissed, but didn't realize he'd be coming today.

Tony sighed and began his speech. "All of us present here today know the sacrifices government agents have to make in their career. Long hours, stressful work, relocating. The physical dangers of getting shot at or coming face-to-face with terrorists. Many of us faced some of our worst nightmares last week when our building was targeted by terrorists, and as a result we lost so many friends and co-workers that day. I count each and every one of those deaths as murders… because that's what happened to them. They were murdered by terrorists in order to try and stop us from finding that nuclear bomb. The explosion was a diversion, a way to sideline us from doing our jobs. This fact alone makes it so much worse because the terrorists cut down so many good people and ruined families in order to create a diversion."

Tony shook his head and took a deep breath. His eyes scanned the crowd again, making eye contact with Michelle. He could see her eyes glistening with unshed tears, but she smiled at him, encouraging him to keep going. He glanced back down at his notes and continued, "Every single person who died last week deserves recognition and respect for their sacrifice. The memorial stone that is placed here at the corner of our building will always remind us of that day, of them and their sacrifice.

"Two people in particular made the ultimate sacrifice, knowingly giving their lives in order to help us stop that bomb. Paula Schaeffer was scared and nervous when news of the bomb broke. She had a hard time staying at C.T.U., knowing there was a bomb out there. But she did stay, she worked through her fear and even when she knew there was a bomb in our building she stayed at the computer, working hard to try to get our data transferred to N.S.A. before we lost it all. She was critically injured because she chose to stay and see that transfer through instead of evacuating with everyone else. She died giving us the codes needed to access those files. Without getting into those files we would have lost hours of information, probably making it impossible to find the people involved with the nuclear bomb. Despite her fear, Paula Schaeffer was one of the bravest people I've known. "

Tony took another deep breath and blinked back the tears that threatened. "George Mason has worked for C.T.U. and D.O.D. for fifteen years. He was the Director of C.T.U. for the past year, and hated every moment. Most of us who knew George knew that he was unhappy in his job, but when push came to shove, he was always there. He did his job with precision and he did it right. Following a lead, George was exposed to a lethal dose of plutonium at the warehouse that made the nuclear bomb. Instead of going to a hospital or going home, George came back to C.T.U. He was given less than 24 hours to live, told how painful it would be, but he still chose to come back to help us. He wasn't going to die without making the bastards pay. I have never seen him work with more passion, more determination than he did those last few hours. When it became too much for him and he knew he couldn't continue to do his job correctly, he was wise enough to let go of the reins and leave. However, he still didn't go home or go to the hospital to relieve his pain. He went to Norton Air Field, determined to see the mission through. He stowed away on the airplane Jack Bauer was flying the bomb out of Los Angeles, bringing a parachute on board so Jack could get out in time. He was dying anyway and wanted to save one more life. George took that plane down in the middle of the desert, limiting civilian causalities. He may have hated his job most of the time, but George Mason helped save the world that day.

"May God bless every one of our fallen and their families. Thank you." Tony stepped away from the mic, wiping sweat from his forehead and glad it was over.

Chappelle went back up on stage and Tony say down. Jack leaned over and whispered, "Good job."

With the amount of people there Tony didn't get a chance to see what Michelle thought of his speech, but her smile and teary eyes told him all he needed to know. He swallowed back his own tears, memories of fallen friends, and tried to focus on the future. He had to rebuild C.T.U. and run it efficiently, and most importantly, a brand new relationship with a woman he felt would be the only woman he'd ever love again. The future was bright indeed.


	31. Chapter 31

_I wanted to say a big Thank You to all the reviews and suggestions I've received. I really appreciate them and they do give me motivation to continue with my story. _

_I know I don't do this at every chapter, but once in a while I need to add the Disclaimer that I do Not own 24 nor any of its characters. Believe me, I'd be tucked away in a secluded island with Tony/Carlos if I did !_

Chapter Thirty-One

The rest of the week flew by for Michelle and Tony. The second interviews were conducted, debated over and two new hires started. Christina Matthews and Amanda McFarland were sent over to replace Paula and Michelle's old position. Christina was fresh out of San Deigo State University, but seemed very intelligent and capable of handling Paula's position. Amanda was transferring from C.T.U. Las Vegas and had been working in counter-terrorism for the past five years, making her capable of taking over Michelle's previous role.

Training two new analysists were leaving Michelle exhausted. She hadn't been home before ten o'clock any night that week, nor had she spent any real time with Tony either. She was having withdraw from him, made especially worse since she had to work closely with him every day but not being able to touch him.

Friday evening it changed.

"Hey."

Michelle didn't even bother to look up at him. "Hey." She crinkled her brow in confusion. What had Christina done to the network now? Ah, she may be good and have good potential, but she was still new and her innocent mistakes were causing Michelle a lot of extra work. Thank goodness Amanda knew her way around C.T.U.'s networks.

"Earth to Michelle."

Smiling, Michelle looked up at his gorgeous face. "Yes?" she asked teasingly.

He grinned. "It's almost eleven o'clock. Time to go home."

She sighed and rolled her neck. "In a few minutes, Tony. I need to correct this mistake that Chris---"

"No, now," he said, leaning over her desk and hitting the power button to the monitor. "You've worked too hard this week, Michelle. You need a break."

She leaned back in her chair and regarded him. He was serious and she appreciated his concern; however, this couldn't wait until Monday. She bit her lip and wondered how to convince him to let her finish this. He was her boss after all and could order her to leave; however, he was also her boyfriend and she could manipulate that.

Smiling, Michelle leaned into her desk and rested her head on her hands. "If you let me finish this, I promise you can control the hot water in the shower."

Tony blinked and Michelle laughed out loud. She had caught him off-guard and she loved it. Before he could comment, though, Jack came over to them. "You guys still here, too, huh? Michelle, you got a sec to look something up for me?"

"No, she doesn't," Tony answered for her.

Michelle shot him a warning look. "What do you need, Jack?"

Jack looked between the two of them, and Michelle could see the battle waging in his mind. Go ahead and ask for her help and make a temporary enemy of Tony, or wait until Monday and get the information from her then. "Ah, it's nothing that can't wait until Monday. Sorry to have bothered you."

So he wimped out. "Jack, it's fine---"

"Thanks, Jack, we were just going to leave," Tony interrupted her again. "You coming over to watch the game tomorrow night?"

Michelle fumed at her desk, turning the monitor back on and getting lost in fixing Christina's mistake while Tony and Jack discussed sports. How dare he interfere with her job. She was perfectly capable of knowing her limits and when it was time to call it quit or not. He had no right to…

She fixed the problem in the network, making a note on her desk to go over it with Christina on Monday, and then gathered her purse and briefcase. After deliberately not looking in Tony's direction, Michelle started walking towards the exit.

"Hey, wait up," Tony called to her as she walked down the hall towards security.

She ignored him.

"Michelle." She glared up at him when he grabbed her elbow. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

She just stared at him, amazed he didn't understand she was angry at him. He caught on fast.

"What's wrong? You're angry."

She shook her elbow loose and walked through security, throwing a fake smile and goodnight to the security guard, Tom. Tony followed her, but didn't speak until they were in the garage.

"Michelle, talk to me," he said from behind her.

She knew she was being stubborn now, but she was exhausted and more than a little grumpy. Maybe she was overreacting to his interference, but she didn't feel like backing down. She wanted to stay angry.

She reached for the car door but was stopped by his hand. She leaned against the car and listened to him whisper behind her, "What is the problem?"

She whirled around in his arms, ready to give him a piece of her mind, but stopped short by the look on his face. He was genuinely concerned and confused as to why she was angry. Michelle sighed and closed her eyes. Men.

"I don't need you sticking up for me or telling me what I can and can't do, Tony," she said with less anger than she thought she had in her. "I can make my own decisions on whether to help Jack or not, or stay late or not."

He stared at her for a second and then said softly, "I know you can make your own decisions, Michelle, but you're exhausted. You've worked almost eighty hours this week and you need to get some rest."

"I know this, but that's my decision to make, Tony, not yours."

"Actually, as your boss, it is my decision."

Her anger came back in a rush. How dare he play the boss role! "Excuse me, but---"

It took a few seconds to register the fact that once again Tony was cutting her off, this time by kissing her. She fumed inside and didn't reprocate the kiss at first, but he was persistent and refused to pull back before she melted in his arms and kissed him back. She partly hated herself for giving in and partly loved how good it felt to be in his arms again like this.

"If you want to keep your relationship a secret, you're doing a lousy job."

Both of them jumped at Jack's words. Michelle felt like a little girl again with her hand in the cookie jar. Jack was laughing, obviously pleased at his ability to sneak up on them and catch them off guard. Tony blushed, but laughed with him. Michelle smiled at Jack, finally, but opened the car door.

"Good night, Jack," she said softly.

"'Night, Michelle," he said, still laughing. He shook his head at Tony and moved on to his own vehicle.

Michelle shut her car door, but lowered the window. Tony rested his arms on the window and leaned in slightly. "Can I come over tonight?"

Despite herself Michelle's heart raced a little. Due to the late nights all week they had been sleeping in their own apartments the past several nights. She had missed his presence sleeping beside her. She smiled at his sexy, puppy dog eyes and gave in. "Yeah. Get in."

He grinned like a little boy and went around to the other side of the car. Michelle shook her head at her own weakness.

Later that night Michelle lay against Tony on her bed, the late news turned low on the television.

"Are you going to come watch the game with us tomorrow at my place?" Tony asked her.

"I don't know," she answered. "I've been ignoring Lily for a while now and I feel bad. I was going to call her and see if she wanted to go out tomorrow night since you were already busy."

Tony felt instantly disappointed. He usually would hate the idea of a woman being at one of his game-viewing nights, but he really didn't want to let her out of his site for the rest of the weekend. This week had left them so busy and so exhausted that they hadn't had any time to relax together.

But he had to respect her desire to spend time with her other friends too. She couldn't stop being friends just because she was dating him now. He wanted to be selfish, but fought back the grumpy feeling.

"Are you okay? You got quiet," she said to him, leaning up on one elbow to look at him.

He forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She narrowed her eyes. "Didn't I tell you once, Almeida, that I can read your face pretty well?"

He chuckled, and then sighed. He wrapped a curl around his finger and admitted, "I just want to spend as much time with you as possible when we can. I know I'm being selfish and wrong, so just ignore me."

"Oh, Tony." She smiled sweetly and leaned in, placing a soft kiss against his lips. "I want to spend time with you as well, but I thought having guys over to watch a sports game was a definitely shut-out for any women."

"It usually is," he admitted. "But…" He could feel his face flush from being so transparent, and so desperate. _You'd better learn to hide your feelings better, Almeida, or she'll be having you spilling your guts before you know it._

Michelle crawled onto of him, straddling him and leaning in for another kiss. His hands automatically moved to caress her body and closed his eyes at how good it felt to be like this with her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't have to call Lily. I can come over, drink beer and pretend to understand why you'll yell at the t.v."

Tony opened his eyes and chuckled at her statement. Her face, inches from his, broke into a smile. "Please tell me you know something about sports."

She leaned back, but not so far that his hands had to move. "Well, I know the basics, but I don't understand why you have to yell at the umpires or refs so much. They do the best they can."

He rolled his eyes at her naïveté. "Give me one year, all sports seasons, and you'll get it."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Yep."

She pretended to think about it. He squeezed with his hands and she jumped in surprise, then started giggling. "Okay, okay, I surrender. I'll let you teach me about sports."

He grinned broadly and loosened his grip. _Worked like a charm, _he thought.

"So, do you want me to come over tomorrow?" she asked.

He thought for a moment and then sighed. It sucked having to put her feelings first, but it also made him happy. "No, don't worry about it. There were be lots of games in the future. You haven't seen Lily in a while… go out and have a good time."

"Ah, you're so sweet," she whispered. "I love you, Tony."

His chest filled with an indescribable emotion at her words. He brushed the curls away from her face and kissed her nose. "I love you too, sweetheart."


End file.
